edited by Saran Kaur Gill Nantana Gajaseni
PENERBIT UNIVERSITI KEBANGSAAN MALAYSIA BANGI • 2012 http://www.ukm.my/penerbit
Contents
Foreword ... 7 Preface ... 9 Acknowledgement ... 11
introduction Pro-Chancellor
of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia ... 13 Vice Chancellor of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia ... 18 Second Plenary ... 22 Third Plenary ... 25
part
1
chapter
Integrating Community Engagement across the Research, Education and Service Missions of the University ... 27 1
Institutionalizing Industry and Community Engagement in Higher Education: Challenges and Recommendations across Asean and Asia ... 29 Saran Kaur Gill
2
Innovative Practices in Community-based Engagement and Curricular Development ... 48 Robert G. Bringle
chapter
part
2
chapter
The Value of Leveraging on Industry’s & ngo’s Experiences in Driving University Social Responsibility ... 59 3
Malaysia’s Environmental Voice Developed: Case of Malaysian Nature Society ... 60 P.N. Avadhani
4
Malaysians in the International Humanitarian Arena: Profile Mercy Malaysia ... 66 P. Shanmuhasuntharam
5
Sime Darby Foundation’s Corporate Social Responsibility ... 71 Yatela Zainal Abidin
chapter
chapter
part
3
chapter
Mechanisms to Enhance Youth and Community Engagement across Asean and Asia ... 77 6
Promoting Volunteerism: Profile of Coordinating Committee for International Voluntary Service (CCIVS) ... 78 Francesco Volpini
7
Engaging the Youth in the Community: Profile of Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) ... 83 Rob Van Leeuwen
8
Sparetime University as an Approach to Enhance Youth and Community Engagement and Service across Asean and Asia ... 89 Michael H. Glantz
chapter
chapter
part
4
chapter
Case Studies of Knowledge-sharing to Enrich UniversityCommunity Engagement Initiatives in Asean and Beyond ... 95 9
chapter
chapter
chapter
Green Community Services: Bringing Solar Energy Innovation to the Public by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia ... 96 Kamaruzzaman Sopian
10 Community Engagement Through a Unique Sporting Partnership at La Trobe University ... 104 Jacqui Martin 11 Science and Technology for the Community: Universitas Indonesia’s Social Responsibility ... 108 Bagus Aryo 12 Moving Forward: Voices of Delegates and Planning for Greater USR&S in Asean and Beyond ... 112 Saran Kaur Gill
appendix
Asiaengage Taskforce Members ... 122
Contributors ... 124
Foreword by Vice Chancellor
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (The National University of Malaysia, UKM) was privileged to host the 2nd UKM-ASEAN University Network Regional Forum on University Social Responsibility and Sustainability between 9th and 11th May 2011. Given our inherent commitment and passion in driving partnerships that contribute to community wellbeing, the Secretariat of the ASEAN University Network (AUN) had invited UKM to organise this initiative as a platform to share best practices and ideas that can strengthen regional higher education cooperation for the development of ASEAN communities. Supported by the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education, this 2nd Forum brought together 147 academic, community and industry leaders from across the region to deliberate on the theme “Knowledge for People, Research for Community Life�. It was indeed a valuable learning experience for all participants, and reiterated the current and evolving role of universities in driving multi-stakeholder knowledge-based collaborations for regional community development. In keeping with the theme, the Forum agenda provided opportunities for participants to share and consider potential modalities that can strengthen higher-education’s contribution to communities across the research, education and service missions of the universities. The participants also discussed the key challenges within their respective disciplines and institutions, and suggested the next steps to collectively advance university social responsibility in the region. Through case studies shared during the panel sessions, participants were also conscious that research output and innovations by academia could be successfully translated into real society benefits through knowledge transfer
programmes with target communities. One of the key insights gained from this Forum was the need for capacity development to undertake productive and sustainable community engagement with multiple stakeholders. This publication has been developed from selected presentations and discussions at this regional forum, and I congratulate all those who made this book possible, led by the Office for Industry and Community Partnerships, UKM. I hope this publication can be used as a strategic tool to mobilise collaborative regional and international projects across universities, industry, and communities, for the betterment of our societies. Thank you.
Prof. Tan Sri Dato’ Wira Dr. Sharifah Hapsah Syed Hasan Shahabudin Vice-Chancellor, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
Preface The ASEAN University Network (AUN) had the foresight and vision to organise the UKM-AUN Regional Forum on Social Responsibility and Sustainability (USR&S) in May 2011. This forum, themed Knowledge for People, Research for Community Life, was hosted by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and strongly supported by the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education. The overarching aim of this forum was to share and exchange ideas, best practices and knowledge on community engagement with diverse stakeholders both nationally and across the region. Held from 9-11 May 2011, it reflected both AUN’s and UKM’s commitment towards championing collaborations that can transform higher education and advance regional communities through university social responsibility in ASEAN and beyond. Over the two and half days of presentations and discussions, the committed speakers conceptualised frameworks, presented case studies and shared experiences with the forum participants comprising 137 academics, civil society activists, and representatives of industry, government agencies and NGOs. We have strived to capture the key messages underpinning university social responsibility and the voices of the delegates at this regional forum through the present publication titled Higher Education and Community Engagement: Innovative Practices and Challenges Across Asean and Asia. We hope this publication will ensure greater value and impact of the good practices and knowledge on community engagement shared at this forum, and enhance the capacity of the readers to forge forward and contribute to the area of community development engagement in a more meaningful, productive and sustainable manner. Higher Education and Community Engagement begins by exploring the concept of University Social Responsibility through the eyes of a Community Engaged Princess, Her Highness Tunku Panglima Besar of Kedah Dato’ Seri Tunku Puteri Intan Safinaz binti Kebawah DYMM Tuanku Sultan Haji Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah, DKH., DKYR., SSDK., PAT., JP., and examining UKM’s perspective on engagement based on the experiences of a Community Engaged University Leader, Tan Sri Dato’
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Wira Dr. Sharifah Hapsah Syed Hasan Shahabudin, Vice Chancellor of University Kebangsaan Malaysia. The publication also shares the invaluable ideas of an experienced practitioner from the Ma’an Alliance of Arab Universities for Civic Engagement, and provides an explanation of AUN’s USR&S Conceptual Framework which comprises the inter-related elements of Teaching and Learning, Research and Academic Services, University’s Governance and Administration, Community Involvement and Campus Life. The main body of the publication captures the key ideas presented by various community engagement experts, encompassing areas pertaining to the Challenges and Recommendations for Institutionalising Industry and Community Engagement in Higher Education, Innovative Practices in Community-based Engagement and Curricular Development, the Value of Leveraging on Industry’s and NGO’s Experiences in Driving University Social Responsibility, Mechanisms to Enhance Youth and Community Engagement across ASEAN and Asia, and Case Studies of Knowledge-Sharing to Enrich University-Community Engagement. It concludes with a chapter which discusses the overarching considerations for action drawn at the forum, and summarises the collective plan for moving forward with greater USR&S in ASEAN and beyond. We humbly dedicate this publication to all who aspire to develop competencies and knowledge in areas essential for becoming engaged practitioners, engaged academics, engaged students and engaged administrators, making up the ENGAGED UNIVERSITY.
Acknowledgement This publication presents summaries of the speakers’ presentations and a flavour of the discussion from key sessions presented at the 2nd UKMASEAN University Network Regional Forum on University Social Responsibility and Sustainability hosted at UKM from 9 - 11 May 2011. Many people have made significant contributions to the organization and implementation of this conference and to the development of this publication, and they all deserve our acknowledgement and thanks for their contributions. First we wish to thank the Vice Chancellor of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Prof. Tan Sri Dato’ Wira Dr. Sharifah Hapsah Syed Hasan Shahabudin, for her guidance and commitment towards strengthening higher education-community engagement at the university and across the region. We are grateful to the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia for providing the funds to organise this regional forum and develop this publication that has enabled us to share key presentations with a wider audience. We also wish to thank the Secretariat of the ASEAN University Network, who had the vision to initiate the first workshop on University Social Responsibility and Sustainability (USR&S) in 2010 and extended their solid support for UKM’s bid to host this 2nd Regional Forum in 2011. A word of grateful acknowledgement goes to all of those at UKM who helped organise the forum and helped to pull together the various chapters in this publication, especially the staff of the Office of the Deputy ViceChancellor (Industry & Community Partnerships – HEJIM). We take this opportunity to extend our gratitude to UKM Press for their thoughtful suggestions and contributions to the development of this publication. Last but not least, this publication would not have been possible without the expertise and hard work of the invited panelists and presenters at the 2nd UKM-AUN Regional Forum on University Social Responsibility and Sustainability 2011, who provided the original presentations and took time from their busy lives to respond to numerous clarifications during the editing of this publication. Our heartfelt gratitude goes to: Robert G. Bringle Chancellor’s Professor of Psychology and Philanthropic Studies and Executive Director, IUPUI Center for Service and Learning at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
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P.N. Avadhani “Ambassador-At-Large” for the Malaysian Nature society P. Shanmuhasuntharam Assistant Honorary Secretary of MERCY Malaysia Yatela Zainal Abidin Chief Executive Officer, Sime Darby Foundation Francesco Volpini Director of the Co-ordinating Committee of International Voluntary Service (CCIVS) Rob van Leeuwen Project Officer, Asia-Europe Foundation in the People-to-People Exchange Department Michael H. Glantz Director, Consortium for Capacity Building (CCB), University of Colorado Kamaruzzaman Sopian Professor in Renewable Energy at the Department of Mechanical and Material Engineering, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) Jacqui Martin Executive Director, Marketing & Engagement, at La Trobe University, Australia Bagus Aryo Advisor to the Directorate of Research & Community Services, Universitas Indonesia Special thanks to all those who have assisted in one way or another in organising the Forum and finalizing this publication, and we apologize to those who have been inadvertently omitted in this acknowledgement. Prof. Dato’ Dr. Saran Kaur Gill Associate Prof. Dr. Nantana Gajaseni
Introduction This section begins with key messages underpinning University social responsibility from the Keynote Address by Her Highness Tunku Panglima Besar of Kedah Dato’ Seri Tunku Puteri Intan Safinaz binti Kebawah DYMM Tuanku Sultan Haji Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah, DKH., DKYR., SSDK., PAT., JP., and the Plenary Presentations by Professor Tan Sri Dato Wira Dr. Sharifah Hapsah Syed Hasan Shahabudin, Vice Chancellor of University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Sherine El Traboulsi, Representative of the Ma’an Alliance of Arab Universities for Civic Engagement, an affiliate of the Talloires Network, and Dr. Choltis Dhirathiti, Deputy Executive Director, ASEAN University Network.
Opening Keynote Address Her Highness Tunku Panglima Besar of Kedah Dato’ Seri Tunku Puteri Intan Safinaz binti Kebawah DYMM Tuanku Sultan Haji Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah, DKH., DKYR., SSDK., PAT., JP. Pro-Chancellor of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Her Highness has a strong commitment to service in society. This is reflected by her voluntary contributions to the Malaysian Red Crescent Society, and she holds the position as the Chairperson of the Kedah branch of this society. Her contributions have been recognised when she received the Malaysia Red Crescent Society’s Meritorious Service medal for all her contributions. Her Highness is also an active champion of initiatives that promote the empowerment of women. Tunku Puteri, as she is commonly addressed, is also an avid sportsperson who plays tennis, golf and badminton. Her Highness believes that sporting activities are an effective avenue to foster youth development and enhance their self-confidence. True to her commitment and passion for service to society, Tunku Puteri formed the Yayasan Sultanah Bahiyah (YSB) in 1996, a charitable organisation in Alor Setar, Kedah. The organisation, named after her late mother, Almarhumah Tuanku Bahiyah ibni Almarhum Tuanku Abdul Rahman, does work on various social fields that affect the youth, women development and
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education. On a personal level, Her Highness is proud of her achievement in the military world. This is amply reflected by her ranking - Tunku Puteri is the first female Commandant of the Territorial Army 513 AW with the rank of Brigadier-General.
Key Messages (For clarity, accuracy and impact, this Keynote Address has been maintained in the style that it was delivered) I am glad to be here this morning to officiate this very topical and relevant issue that we face as a collective, as a university and as a network of universities so that our various skills and expertise can collaborate and create better information skills and applied techniques, so that we can all be better at doing good. Doing good is one thing, but I have found that in my twelve to thirteen years of participating in local community activities, ‘being good at being good’ is actually another matter. We often waste good resources in trying to be good or do good things for other people and wastage of resources should be severely limited or restricted. We rely on a network of talents and experts such as all of you from the universities on a regional and global level to improve the way we see things and the way we do things so I am very happy to be here this morning to officiate this forum. As the Pro Chancellor of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, I am very honoured and pleased to welcome all of you to the second ASEAN University Network Regional Forum on University Social Responsibility and Sustainability. I am especially delighted to see so many academics and key players from industries, non-governmental organisations, government agencies, as well as foundations that are committed to the social responsibility mission. Themed “Knowledge for People, Research for Community Life”, I believe this forum will provide the critical platform to discuss the current challenges faced by our communities across the region. We also need to explore strategies to strengthen cooperation between higher education institutions and diverse stakeholders in order to drive collaboration for community development. I am the chair person of the Yayasan Sultanah Bahiyah or the Sultanah Bahiyah Foundation which is based in Kedah. For you who are not familiar with the geography of Malaysia, Kedah is a state north of the country bordering Thailand. We are an agricultural-based state. We have pockets of industry but are largely known as the rice producers for the rest of the country so we are traditionally known as the rice bowl of
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the country, producing 65% of the national consumption of rice which is critical for the health and happiness of our citizens. In this context, we often overlook the role of the humble rice farmer. I am always compelled to highlight how important they are to civil society and how they contribute to peace and harmony. The local community in this agricultural state has pockets of poverty. Through the foundation, we help with addressing the key problem areas such as education. This is done via home tuition, provision of extra classes for English, Mathematics and Science for selected students of the lower income groups that we have in the rural areas. We engage the youth by encouraging them to get to know each other, to be aware of positive living through sports and career development, and some sex education awareness, drug awareness and HIV programs. This is how we help improve the quality of life of the communities in Kedah. The objective is to promote social change through education, community development, health, youth outreach and training initiatives. I therefore see the need for greater involvement from diverse organisations in initiatives that uplift and enhance the quality of life for communities in the nation and region. Traditionally the university’s role is to provide knowledge, teaching and research. Such traditional functions restrict them to mainly a close circle of educators and students from the upper strata of society and they live in relative isolation of the ivory tower. However since the first decade of the century, higher education institutions in Malaysia have begun to give attention to social responsibility across research, education and service. Societies all over the world have become more complex and demand accountability for investments in education. They want to see the returns of how higher education helps develop people economically and socially. UNESCO in the 2009 World Conference on Higher Education recognized higher education as a key factor in the progression of nations and their people, reaffirmed the duty of higher education to not only provide skills but also to contribute to the formation of citizens endowed with ethical principles, committed to building peace and defending human rights and democratic values. Therefore, in the case of Malaysia, it is timely to highlight the issue of the HIV aids epidemic and its impact, as an example of how it affects the welfare, education and health of communities especially women and children of the nation. As reported by the Ministry of Health, the accumulative numbers of HIV positive people in Malaysia has very much advanced since the first reported case in 1986. Statistics from the Ministry of Health shows that a total of 91,362 cases of HIV infections
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have been reported between 1986 and 2010 in Malaysia. The numbers are predicted to increase to about 300,000 by the year 2015. This issue, in Malaysia and elsewhere, I believe, can be contained if we, organisations such as universities and NGOs, can work together to reverse the underlying socioeconomic factors that contribute to the people’s HIV risks, gender inequality, stigma, discrimination, silence and denial, ignorance and drug abuse. We need to work together to understand and address this epidemic that is affecting not only urban but also agrarian communities. We need to stop it from spreading and destroying more lives. This is one social responsibility project that higher education institutions can successfully take on together with agencies like UNICEF, charitable foundations, government agencies, student organisations and NGOs to support efforts that can address this very damaging local community issue. I am very proud to say that the UKM chapter of AIESEC, under the umbrella of the Malaysian AIESEC body, Malaysia’s National HIV Initiative has successfully championed the ‘Red Project’ which is a youth-led community service project that aims to provide education and awareness of HIV aids to young people from school, colleges and universities in Malaysia. This is an excellent example of an initiative that university students can drive in their commitment which can be sustained through strategic partnerships with industry and NGOs. Such initiatives will also inculcate critical leadership skills in our students and transform them into youth with a soul for community service and engagement. I would like to congratulate University Kebangsaan Malaysia and the ASEAN University Network for taking this initiative to involve academics as well as experts from ASEAN, Asia and around the world in this forum to collaborate for the application of knowledge and research for social responsibility and sustainability. Being passionate about youth development, I am particularly pleased by the emphasis in this forum on mechanisms to enhance youth and student contribution to social initiatives, through volunteerism and community based work. As academicians and leaders from industries, foundation and non-governmental organisations and government agencies, I believe that you have the skills and the ability to influence and support the efforts of higher education institutions to carry out social responsibility programs. I will conclude by quoting Robert Hutchins, Dean of Yale Law School and President Chancellor of the University of Chicago:
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Civilization can be saved by only a moral, intellectual and spiritual revolution to match the scientific, technological and economic revolution in which we are living. If universities can contribute than they will offer real hope to suffering humanity. If they cannot or they will not face up to such social responsibility, then they are irrelevant and their fate is immaterial.
May this forum with its ambitious and very relevant theme strengthen the role of higher education institutions in contributing to the development of the regional communities in ASEAN and indeed beyond, with the support and cooperation of the organisations and individuals with similar values and missions. On this note, it is with great pleasure I hereby declare open the 2nd UKM-ASEAN University Network Regional Forum on University Social Responsibility and Sustainability.
First Plenary Professor Tan Sri Dato Wira Dr. Sharifah Hapsah Syed Hasan Shahabudin Vice Chancellor of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)
Introduction Professor Sharifah Hapsah provides inspiring and integral leadership in all areas of the university and is passionate about many areas, one of which is community engagement and social responsibility. A firm believer of social accountability, she places a premium on knowledge transfer to communities and learning in and from communities for instilling social responsibility, inter-ethnic respect and valuing cultural diversity. She also believes that the university should develop good models for community development. Today, largely due to her leadership and drive, UKM hosts the national program for the gifted and talented as well as a program dedicated to the empowerment of youth at youths-at-risk . In collaboration with John Hopkins University, the program for the gifted and talented is fully supported by the Malaysian government and has proven to be a milestone in the history of the Malaysian education system. She has over the years served on many national committees and councils. Her voluntary work finds supreme expression in her responsibility as president of the national council of women’s organisations which is dedicated to gender equality and the advancement of women.
Key Messages UKM is hosting the 2nd UKM ASEAN University Network Regional Forum on university social responsibility and sustainability (USR&S) because we are committed to the idea of civic engagement. In fact, I would like UKM to be known as a university that is very rich in civic engagement. I am very happy that we will promote this in the ASEAN region with the ASEAN University Network (AUN). I am very delighted that scholars, researchers, industry players and NGO leaders from many nations are gathered here today to deliberate on the theme “Knowledge for People and Research for Community Life�.
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Universities are places where knowledge is generated. Research is carried out and knowledge is created but this knowledge is of no use if it is just published and read amongst the academics or if it is just transferred for commercial purposes where there is technology transfer. It should actually be applied for resolving the many challenges of the communities, which include poverty, inequality, ethnic and religious conflict, as well as social ills among others and environmental problems. We must play a role that will send communities on the path of peace and sustainable development. Indeed the mission of service in the three universal mission of education, research and service is becoming more important with the realization that universities must be socially responsible for their up keep by taxpayers, particularly public universities. More than that, the social responsibility will keep universities relevant in this unprecedented fast changing world. In UKM, we take this role very seriously. Our first step was to establish the position of Deputy Vice-Chancellor in charge of Industry and Community Partnerships. The position of Heads of Industry and Community Partnerships has also been set up at faculty and institute levels to ensure that social responsibility permeates across the whole university. This office is responsible for moving ad-hoc outreach by individual academics to institutionalizing them as sustainable university industry community engagements. And so we have to build an eco-system that promotes and applies knowledge and expertise to create mutually beneficial partnerships with communities and industry. Strategic collaborations strengthen the eight niche areas of expertise at the university. The knowledge generated in these areas are applied for community development as evidenced by the numerous projects on areas such as education, social wellbeing, health promotion, poverty eradication, environmental preservation, entrepreneurship, application of solar panels in rural areas and also technology transfer. These are key areas of concern that can impact the development of communities at the national and regional levels. One of the iconic projects in the area of community engagement is the Perkasa Remaja Project or Youth Empowerment Project aimed at developing good models of the development of the nation’s youth-at-risk. The targets are youth that are involved in illegal racing and this is a nuisance for the community. They complain to no end about this problem and it is also endangering the life of innocent people on the roads, so a preventive program in this youth empowerment project is the community based empowerment program in Kampung Kerinchi, an urban low-cost housing community in Kuala Lumpur. We have a centre there and our researchers
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and post graduate students go to the centres and work with the communities to empower them. They empower them to organise themselves so that they can have activities for the youth and then prevent them from getting into problems that we classify as social illness. There is also a program on campus where youth who are already caught in illegal racing are taken to a camp for two months and trained through a series of modules with the aim of making them aware of what their purpose in life is. This program has helped over sixty youth in two camps and all of them have been employed or self-employed as entrepreneurs. This is an example of a project that brings a lot of learning to both the university and the community. The university’s partnership with industry is also becoming stronger, exemplified by research activities around climate change and sustainable development. After long-term collaboration and negotiations, UKM won two endowed chairs from the Sime Darby Foundation, which is a major player in the oil palm plantation industry in Malaysia. The endowed chairs are the UKM-YSD Chair for Climate Change which is worth RM5 million and established in 2010 at the Research Centre for Tropical Climate Change Systems (IKLIM), Faculty of Science and Technology, and the UKM-YSD Chair for Sustainable Development: Towards Zero Waste Technology which is worth RM 15 million and established in 2011 at the Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment UKM. The universities also received excellent support from the Ministry of Higher Education. In July 2010, the strategic enhancement plan for university industry and community collaboration was launched. This is a major milestone for assisting universities to align their unique strengths with key stakeholders from industries, NGOs and government agencies to collaborate in innovative ways that can alleviate the livelihood of the communities in the nation and region. As a further endorsement of UKM’s commitment to social responsibility, UKM is signatory to the Talloires declaration on the civic roles and social responsibilities of higher education. In this regard, we are leading the development of the Asia-Talloires network of engaged universities or ATNEU which is a regional network that is dedicated to drive trans disciplinary, social responsibility initiatives between higher education institutions and diverse stakeholders. We would like to invite all of you to join this network because together, we can make a difference to our region. We are not just talking about doing projects in our own countries but I am sure we can find projects where we can work collaboratively in our region. Climate change and its attendant problems is one of those areas which
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impacts communities across borders and can be worked on regionally. It is evident that we need to identify and plan how best we can contribute to advance societies in decades ahead. The development of strategic university-industry-community partnerships is a potential mechanism to facilitate this process. Successful partnerships can translate into really big benefits for the nation and region.
Second Plenary Sherine El Traboulsi Representative of the Ma’an Alliance of Arab Universities for Civic Engagement, an affiliate of the Talloires Network
Introduction At University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), we have been working hard to document, examine and to provide clear direction, coordination, implementation and support to enhance the university’s education system in service through high quality industry and community engagement. As we have worked on this at the institutional level, we used to wonder, why are we doing this on our own? Why don’t we reach out to others in the nation and across the region who are also becoming more aware of the importance of ensuring that community engagement extends beyond traditional institutional outreach and enriches research, education and service? Then an opportunity came to us in March 2010 when the Talloires Network brought together twenty higher education leaders at the Rockefeller Foundation at Bellagio, Italy for a unique discussion titled “Higher Education Responding to Social Needs”. Subsequently, UKM was invited to lead in the establishment of the Asian Regional Network Known as the Asia-Talloires Network of Engaged Universities (ATNEU). At Bellagio, we were privileged to meet with Barbara Ibrahim, who is the Director of the Gerhart Center of Philanthropy and Civic engagement of the American University of Cairo. Barbara also leads Ma’an which is the alliance of Arab Universities promoting civic engagement and an affiliate of the Talloires network. Working in collaboration with the global Talloires Network, the Ma’an Arab University Alliance for Civic Engagement aims to bring together Arab universities with the collective goal of encouraging and enhancing civic engagement implementation in higher education. When we were identifying speakers for this forum and needed a representative from the Talloires Network, we felt that it would be good to have someone from Ma’an with us given our geographical and cultural alignment and infinity. We then invited Barbara Ibrahim, the Director, who was unfortunately not able to accept our invitation, as the dates coincided
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with a mission that she had organised to Saudi Arabia. Barbara Ibrahim then nominated Sherine El Traboulsi, a young Egyptian academic at the American University of Cairo who has been with Ma’an from the beginning and also understands the freedom of expression issues very well. She is currently leading the Muslim philanthropy digital library, a new initiative with much potential. Sherine’s research interests include diaspora studies, philanthropic studies and not-for-profit research.
Key Messages Ma’an alliance in the Arab region Meanwhile, in another part of the world, in the Arab region, at a time of immense regional challenges, universities are called upon to contribute more directly to social and economic development particularly through the promotion of civic engagement, community service, and philanthropy. As Sherine explicates: Universities are an integral part of any society. So social responsibility comes as a given. When you are a part of a society, being socially responsible is something that is very important, that is crucial for the entire community. And at this time of immense regional challenges like the ones that we are living through at this point in the Arab region, universities play an even more important role. Youth mobilization is on the rise and many of the participants in the Arab Spring uprising in 2011 are university students and graduates. They are a microcosm of what is happening on a larger platform within the country.
There have been several initiatives in the American University of Cairo to document the mobilization that is happening off university campuses. One such effort was to collect pictures of the Tahrir Square protests and testimonials and place them in the Muslim philanthropy digital library. There is also the University-of-the-Square initiative that also documents university engagement outside the walls of the American University of Cairo. In this context, Ma’an, an alliance of Arab Universities, an affiliate with the Talloires Network, plays an important role. Ma’an’s mission is to strengthen the civic roles and social responsibilities of higher education in the Arab world. Ma’an was launched by the Gerhart Center for Philanthropy and Civic Engagement, of the American University in Cairo in 2009. The universities work together to implement the recommendations of the Ma’an Declaration in the Arab world in partnership with the Talloires Network to build a global movement of engaged universities and citizens.
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The Talloires Network envisions universities around the world as a vibrant, dynamic force in their societies, incorporating civic engagement and service into their research and teaching missions. So again the silent metaphor that academics exist in a bubble on their own, completely disengaged, completely divorced from what is happening outside the walls of the university is really what the Talloires Network is trying to shift into a new paradigm whereby faculty members, staff members, students have a role to play in the community as partners. With all the changes that are happening in the region, this is no longer an option. Universities have to engage and they have to engage during this call for revolution. All Ma’an Alliance members automatically become Talloires Network members and will gain access to all Talloires Network resources and opportunities. Similarly, all Arab universities which join the Talloires Network will automatically become members of the Ma’an Alliance. An alliance of the Arab Universities allows them to share their common problems and student issues and then to incorporate the community. The first value of respect for mutual learning in institutions of higher education acknowledges that there is a common domain to capitalize upon to share knowledge. The acknowledgment of the diversity in both membership and approach for civic engagement is critical because of the differences among the countries, including in culture, so that this can be incorporated within the models of engagement in empowering individuals and groups. This in turn can forge strong relationships and communication between higher education and society when staff and students go beyond the walls of a university. In this regard, scholarly recognition of the value of service and action in teaching and research is timely.
Third Plenary Dr. Choltis Dhirathiti Deputy Executive Director, ASEAN University Network
Introduction The ASEAN University Network is a dynamic organisation and the Executive Director of the AUN secretariat is Associate Professor Dr. Nanthana Gajaseni. At the Fourth ASEAN Summit in 1992 held at Singapore, the ASEAN leaders directed that ASEAN should help hasten the solidarity and the development of a regional identity by considering ways to further strengthen the existing network of the leading universities and institutions of higher learning in the region. This led to the creation of the ASEAN University Network (AUN). Dr. Choltis, the Deputy Executive Director, is also currently the Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Political Science at Chulalongkorn University. Today, Dr.Choltis is actively involved in higher education development in ASEAN, and with the AUN, he has worked impactfully on a number of projects to enhance higher education across the ASEAN region.
Key Messages AUN framework of USR&S Regionally, the interest to move forward the agenda gained from a number of inspiring stories of good practices on USR&S collected at the AUN Workshop on University’s Social Responsibility and Sustainability from ASEAN-Japan Perspectives: Sharing and Caring for a Better Community, held at Burapha University, Chonburi, Thailand, in October 2010. Social Responsibility aims for the “social good” of the community, and the commitment goes beyond what the organisations normally do. The AUN framework of university social responsibility and sustainability (USR&S) comprises four integral parts or elements as follows: The first element is within the core business of the university itself, that is what the university normally does such as, the three missions of teaching and learning, research, and academic services which can be extended or embedded with social responsibility initiatives. The second element is community involvement or community engagement which includes local
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Higher Education’s Missions Teaching & learning Reseach Academic services
Campus life
Community Involvement
University Governance & Administration
FIGURE 1: AUN USR&S conceptual framework
employment and services. The third element of campus life comprises the social responsibility initiatives on campus. The USR&S ethos must be built from within. This entails, for example, how the administration deals with the quality of life of students and staff on campus. Thus, USR&S is not only about helping communities elsewhere, but it also takes into account the quality of life of communities within the campus. Ensuring their wellbeing is a visible example in implementing internal USR&S. The fourth and final element is about university governance and administration. This would be about good governance, ethical management and how they relate with stakeholders’ interests to facilitate university social responsibility efforts. These four parts are interrelated and a balance must be struck when implementing USR&S activities. As we have covered the essential components of University Social Responsibility as recommended by AUN, it is also important to highlight what social responsibility is not. Where AUN is concerned, social responsibility is not about personal ethics which is in the sphere of the individual person. In addition, it is not about the organization’s reputation for the purpose of public relations only.
Part 1
Integrating Community Engagement across the Research, Education and Service Missions of the University Higher Education was founded with a civic mission that calls on faculty, students, and administrators to apply their skills, resources, and talents to address important issues affecting communities, the nation, and the world (Stanton 2007). It is therefore imperative that universities play a pivotal role in both uniting stakeholders and in educating for regional community development through their education, research and service-oriented efforts. As Deputy Vice Chancellor for Industry and Community Partnership at a premier Malaysian research university, Prof. Dato’ Dr. Saran Kaur Gill offers insight on the unique challenges of establishing multi-stakeholder collaborations and institutionalising community engagement across the research, education and service missions at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). Her paper is expanded from the original that was presented at the 2nd UKM-AUN Regional Forum on University Social Responsibility and Sustainability in May 2011, and was the keynote address presented at the 11th Annual Southeast Asian Association for Institutional Research (SEAAIR) Conference on University Social Responsibility – Pathways to Excellence in November 2011 in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The first chapter also discusses effective strategies and recommendations for replicating UKM’s successful engagement model across ASEAN and Asia. In the second chapter, Prof. Dr. Robert G. Bringle (Chancellor’s Professor of Psychology and Philanthropic Studies and Executive Director, IUPUI Center for Service and Learning at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis) shares his wealth of experience on the education of students for civic and community engagement through service learning. He offers a scholarly perspective on the development, implementation, and evaluation of educational programs pertaining to service-learning and civic engagement across the university’s core missions. Both plenary papers reiterate the importance of engaged research and teaching as critical mechanisms for higher education institutions to apply their expertise and resources for regional community development, and as a way of fulfilling the core missions of the institutions (Holland 2005).
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References Holland, B. A. 2005. “Scholarship and mission in the 21st Century: The role of engagement.� Australian Universities Quality Agency Forum. Stanton, T.K. 2007. New Times Demand New Scholarships: Research Universities and Civic Engagement. The University of California, Los Angeles.
Chapter 1
Institutionalizing Industry and Community Engagement in Higher Education: Challenges and Recommendations across ASEAN and Asia Saran Kaur Gill Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia In our globalised and regional world, we are increasingly faced with complex issues, problems that extend beyond disciplinary, sectoral or geographic boundaries. These include problems of climate change, the environment and their impact on communities, for example the various communities affected by floods in Thailand, Laos and Vietnam and the Philippines. We also have problems of inequity at economic levels amongst society resulting in extreme urban and rural poverty, and problems of illiteracy and unequal education opportunities and human rights across the region. These problems seem largely beyond the capacity of any one agency to solve. They require collaboration, diverse people working together across these boundaries to ensure our communities are socially just, economically stable, environmentally sustainable and literate and educated – all important areas aligned with the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). While governments are often seen as key facilitators of these collaborations, universities play an increasingly important role in this agenda. These initiatives can be worked on in collaboration with industry/ NGOs/community through partnerships that mutually benefit both parties (Wallis 2005). This is evidenced in the 2010 OECD General Conference titled “Higher Education in a World Changed Utterly: Doing More with Less� which emphasises that: Social engagement has moved beyond institutional outreach to address the challenges of the 21st century. Engagement is now a mindset ensuring that tertiary education can meet its multiple responsibilities...creating a culture
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of learning, directing research and teaching to sustainable development, and strengthening links with social & (industry) (my inclusion) partners are now an inescapable obligation for institutions.
This also resonates with what Teay Shawyun, President of SEAAIR expressed at the Asia-Europe Foundation workshop at Innsbruck, when he advised: We need to look at the long-term future of universities: Who/what are we? Who do we serve? Universities need to meet the needs of stakeholders, contribute to the changes in society, and look at the capacities for critical reflection. In serving society, they need to critically question themselves, whether their processes, e.g. in teaching, research and services, are really of value to students and will help students to contribute to the betterment of society at large.
Therefore, in this context, it is important for universities to collaborate with external stakeholders from industry, government agencies, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and community organisations, to work towards enhancing the quality of lives of communities across the region. This quadruple partnership is what is often described in the literature as the quadruple helix partnership (Maldonado 2010). There is a need to develop and establish meaningful quadruple helix partnerships if we are to solve problems affecting communities. Such partnerships are not new - they have been carried out by higher education institutions through a number of excellent initiatives over time. However, they have largely been carried out on an ad-hoc basis, and need to be coordinated and systematised so that there is greater impact across the university. With our intellectual capital and knowledge generation capacities, universities are suitably positioned to take the lead. The challenge is to bring it all together and move collectively in a direction to create a critical mass in forging impactful partnerships with external stakeholders in moving higher education, industry and community engagement forward to help solve problems faced by communities. In this chapter, I will explicate the challenges faced in this journey, and the recommendations that can be made in the context of universities that have traditionally been driven by performances in research and teaching and learning. These challenges and recommendations will be drawn from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)’s experience, literature review and the insights gained at the 2nd Asia-Europe Education Workshop, held in June 2011 at the University of Innsbruck, titled “Knowledge Societies: Universities and their Social Responsibilities�. While the European insights are gained from the Innsbruck workshop, the ASEAN perspectives were largely based on the outcomes of the 2nd AUN Regional Forum on
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University Social Responsibility and Sustainability co-organised in May 2011 by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and the ASEAN University Network (AUN)1 themed “Knowledge for People, Research for Community Life” and the publication by Russel Botman (2010) entitled “Hope in Africa: Human Development Through Higher Education Community Interaction”. Based on the above forums which provide the Asian and European perspectives and the Malaysian and South African experience, the following challenges have emerged as critical considerations for any university that is serious about driving forward community engagement through research, education and service: 1. The need for leadership at senior and middle management level – this embraces issues of strategic direction and operational management. 2. Clarity of conceptualisation: There are so many terms being used in relation to community engagement that it remains a challenge in higher education to arrive at a common definition of what it is. 3. Institutionalisation: Community engagement is not yet universally accorded the status of a fully-fledged academic core function of universities. The challenge is to develop and institute appropriate mechanisms for community engagement at an institutional level. 4. Quality assurance: The critical need to develop quality assurance indicators and criteria for high quality and high impact engagement across research, education and service; and quality management indicators and processes for community engagement that are similar to those developed for research and for teaching and learning. 5. Capacity building programmes to develop competencies necessary for effective university, community and industry engagement. 6. Incorporating reward and recognition systems for Industry and Community Engagement. These will constitute key drivers to obtain buy-in of any policy initiative. 7. Funding: To tap diverse funding sources and to develop innovative mechanisms through strategic public-private partnerships to ensure sustainability of community engaged initiatives.
Leadership Position: Governance System and Structures, Policy and Implementation If a university wants to drive this area forward seriously, then there has to be space and visibility of this area in the university and in terms of leading
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this at senior management level. We begin by delineating the structural system that the Ministry of Higher Education and universities have set up to ensure that universities have an effective delivery system to reach out to industry and community (Gill 2009). On 1st Sept 2007, the Ministry of Higher Education established a new senior management portfolio, that of Deputy Vice-Chancellor for industry and community engagement, for four research universities: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, University Malaya, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Universiti Putra Malaysia - and an additional university – Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM). At Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, this portfolio is titled Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Industry and Community Partnerships). This expands the number of Deputy Vice-Chancellor’s posts at UKM from three, which includes, research and innovation affairs, academic and international affairs and for student and alumni affairs, to four, to include Industry and Community Partnerships. All of these portfolios support the Vice-Chancellor (referred to as President in some contexts) of the university. It is important to bear in mind that the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Industry and Community Partnerships)’s role is service-oriented. In the process of developing partnership activities with industry and community, it serves to support the research, teaching, learning and service thrusts of the university. As these initiatives are carried out, there will naturally be an overlap with the portfolios of the other deputy vice-chancellors. Thus, it is very important for strong understanding and cooperation to exist between the various deputy vice-chancellors to ensure smooth and constructive engagement with industry and community takes place. Walls and territories need to be swept away and multi-disciplinary and multi-responsibility initiatives built across innovative bridges. This relatively new portfolio has to be regarded as one that applies industry and community engagement as it enhances the core business of the university: research, education and service. At UKM, this Deputy Vice Chancellor’s role is to develop, maintain and sustain the university as a leading player in the establishment of mutually beneficial partnerships between the university, industry and community. This is carried out, not only at the national levels, but also through regional and global partnerships. This is achieved through systematic documentation of existing partnerships and planning for and implementing future collaborative ventures. All of these efforts are operationalised through outreach and partnership engagement where the university’s intellectual capital and resources will be maximised in a relevant and compatible manner to advantage industry and community. Reciprocally, academics as
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well as students will benefit from the wealth of knowledge and experience of industry and community. All of these activities will be driven by the university’s niche research areas such as sustainable development, climate change, nanotechnology and material science, multiculturalism, globalisation and self-identity, health technology and medicine amongst others (Sharifah Hapsah 2008: 23 – 28). Granted the drive to reach out to industry and community is not new. University, industry and community liaison offices have existed in the public universities for many years. However, efforts to form partnerships with industry and community have largely been conducted on an ad hoc basis. Until the creation of this portfolio, there has not been a structured way of establishing relationships with the outside community. Linkages happen mostly through the actions of individual lecturers or through the industrial arm of the university. At UKM, the portfolio of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Industry and Community Partnerships has three offices headed by three directors. These are the Industry-Liaison Office, the Office of University-Community Partnerships and the Chancellor’s Foundation. The three offices are all service-oriented and they have value only in so much as they are able to work at supporting the faculties and research institutes in promoting academic expertise and research and educational initiatives through collaborative partnerships with industry, NGOs and communities. It is crucial to plan clear and effective “delivery systems” to ensure that the offices work effectively at all levels – with the Deputy Vice-Chancellor and to serve the faculties/research institutes to work collaboratively with industry/community. Therefore, these offices work closely with the Vice Chancellor and other DVC’s (academic, research and student affairs), Faculty Deans, Institute Directors, and other senior UKM staff, and together, we provide direction, coordination and support to staff and students in working together to achieve the UKM industry and community engagement vision. It is very important to ensure that there is development of leadership at middle management level so that the policies and plans are implemented at the faculty level and for this we have developed the position of Head of Industry and Community Partnerships at each faculty. On paper and in terms of presentation, the development of the governance eco-system sounds idealistic and non-problematic. It is safe to use the analogy of the duck floating calmly on water, where one is not able to see below water the mental and physical effort involved in being able to attain the calm that you see above water – the chaos and struggle that results in the calm. Each milestone achieved has required toil, sweat and tears, to bring us to where we are today at UKM. And the journey goes on.
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Clarity of Conceptualisation: Defining Community Engagement Having established the governance eco-system for engagement, the next challenge is that of the need for Clarity of Conceptualisation. It remains a challenge in higher education to arrive at a common definition of what university social responsibility or community engagement is. Botman (2010) highlights the challenge “to rid ourselves of the old paradigm of “community service” that keep us captive and to arrive at a more reciprocal concept that emphasises partnership and mutual benefit.” At Universitat de Barcelona, social responsibility within the university community means applying the principles of ethics, good governance, respect for the environment, social commitment and civic values to the tasks of teaching, research and knowledge transfer, so that each person and entity takes responsibility for the consequences and impact of their actions. It means being accountable to society for positive and negative social, environmental and economic developments arising from actions undertaken in any field. According to Holland and Ramaley (2008), one of the most widelyadopted definitions of engagement has emerged from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in their Community Engagement Classification (2006): “Community Engagement describes the collaboration between institutions of higher education and their larger communities for mutully beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity.” There are many interrelated definitions but what we have chosen to use at UKM is responsible community engagement. There is a need at this stage to clarify between the use of the word ‘service’ as the third mission of the university, as referred to above, and that of engagement with industry and community as integrated into research and education. ‘service’ as the third mission of the university, focuses on an act of helpful activity; help; aid: to do someone a service, what is involved in volunteerism and this is extremely valuable for ensuring that we give with our hearts, hands and minds back to society. In the key addresses presented at the workshop organised by the Asia-Europe Foundation together with the University of Innsbruck, it was highlighted that, traditionally, in Europe, universities focus on teaching and research. A third mission is emerging, which is service, which encompasses all the other portfolios. This results in applicable research, appreciation of
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arts, gender equality and advancement of women, the need to explain to the public what the functions and values of universities are. This is very important but the term ‘service’ is not broad enough to sufficiently encompass and capture the diverse range of activities and initiatives which involve engagement with industry and communities, carried out across the university. The attachment of academics to industry/ NGOs, for example, cannot fall under the definition of ‘service’. Other examples are student internship initiatives, and faculty members who have managed to obtain industry funding for community based research and the many rich knowledge-exchange initiatives carried out between the multistakeholders as they seek to address problems in communities. Engagement would therefore be a more suitable and accurate term as ‘engagement’ implies working together with shared understanding to develop shared solutions, through shared governance and shared assets, with the ultimate aim of gaining shared advantages for all stakeholders. Therefore at UKM, the definition of ‘Engagement’ as developed for UKM’s Strategic Plan for engagement reads: Engagement implies purposive, considerate and productive interaction with both internal (academia, administrative & professional staff, and students) and external stakeholders (industry, government agencies, NGOs and communities) for the establishment of mutually beneficial partnerships. All of these engagement initiatives aim to enhance and enrich the core areas of the university – education, research and service – and facilitate a two-way flow of expertise and resources through knowledge exchange partnerships that benefit all stakeholders – academia, industry and community – and ultimately the cities, nation and region.
This definition reiterates the necessity for universities to integrate community engagement in the core business of the university: research, education and service. There is a need to work out clearly how this can be done for each of the key components of research, education and service with clear examples so that it promotes greater understanding, acceptance and application in the academic environment which shows academics how they can achieve their research and publications KPIs and yet work at ensuring their knowledge is applicable and benefits communities. Therefore, it is recommended that the “Industry and Community Engagement” component to be divided into the three following categories: “Engagement for Education”, “Engagement for Research” and “Engagement for Service”. At UKM, we consider industry engagement as an integral part of community engagement – universities work on USR and industry works
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on CSR – we should be talking to each other, to learn from each other. The relationship between industry and community engagement should not be separated but for the purposes of this paper, it will be community engagement that will be the thrust focused on and supported by industry engagement. As we promote this industry and community integrated sector, it is important to subject it to quality assurance criteria and indicators as have been done for the academic domain of the university, with a focus on teaching and learning. There is a need to develop standard operating procedures for quality engagement processes within the university and with external stakeholders. In addition, we need to develop clear indicators for successful multisectoral engagement. These will feed into review audits that will be carried out to assess the quality of engagement at institutional levels, and just as importantly the social impact assessment of community engaged projects.
Policy Guidelines for Effective Stakeholder Engagement Engagement with external stakeholders, if done well, brings tremendous visibility and enhances the profile of the institution. But when done badly, creates negative and sometimes irreparable damage to the institution. When an academic or professional staff member of the university deals with a member of industry or community, he or she does not represent himself or herself individually. Instead, the staff member represents the institution and it is the name of the institution that you carry with you. Therefore, acquiring competencies to work effectively and with sensitivity with external stakeholders is absolutely critical. The education of internal stakeholders on effective engagement is very important. As a start for this, we have developed a detailed Engagement Policy Guidelines Document which sets out clear management processes, systems and procedures to develop meaningful, sustainable, considerate & productive interactions with both internal and external stakeholders. The processes delineate guidelines for various stages in the continuum of engagement including Engagement Planning, Preparation and Negotiation, Finalizing Engagement, Implementation, Monitoring and Reporting. We are now developing an Engagement Scorecard to enable us to evaluate in detail the quality, effectiveness and impact of our engagement with external stakeholders. It is important for higher education institutions to have standard operating procedures, systems and processes that are clear
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to everyone in our pursuit of effective engagement with both industry and community players.
Developing Criteria & Indicators For High Quality & High Impact Industry & Community Engaged Research What we have developed at UKM is a modality to provide academics with the balance between the demands of academic promotion criteria and that of working towards ensuring their expertise has applied value for regional communities. These criteria will underpin the evaluation of research projects for external grants, and need to be integrated into the university’s annual appraisal system, promotional criteria whilst contributing to the KPIs of a research university. We made a conscious decision to reward academics for engagement initiatives that cut across research, education and service, and not as stand-alone criteria. The indicators are: 1. Community Partnership & Involvement: The extent to which the project involves the community, from getting buy-in from the community and building relationships and trust, to providing consultation, establishing knowledge exchange partnerships and developing community empowerment. In addition to the critical need for leadership at senior management level, it is also important to have leadership at the implementation level -research and community development leadership at project level. It is important for leaders at all levels to understand and apply knowledge exchange as compared to knowledge transfer as we work with communities. Knowledge exchange has manifold aspects, extending from community development right up to knowledge exchange for scientific and technological innovation. We focus a lot on the term knowledge transfer, it is essential in this partnership era to start using knowledge exchange. It breaks the universities away from the idea that they are the sole custodians and developers of knowledge, and exemplifies that they have just as much to learn from the communities and the larger society (Gill Draft Report of 2nd Asia-Europe Education Workshop-Knowledge Societies: Universities and their Social Responsibilities, 2011). As Lao Tzu, the great Chinese philosopher reminds us, “Start with what they know. Build with what they have. The best of leaders
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when the job is done, when the task is accomplished, the people will say we have done it ourselves.” This is how we need to work with communities. 2. Impact on Community Development: The extent to which the social impact of the intervention project enhances the quality of life for the target community (through social, economic, environmental, health, education and technological development). In relating success stories, one may not necessarily see the challenges and perseverance needed to implement them. The Faculty of Engineering led by Professor Marzuki Mustafa believed that they had innovative knowledge in an area of engineering, specifically in microcontroller technology. As he found that newly enrolled engineering students at the university had a fear of the C programming language, he used microcontroller technology as a base to simplify the language process in a project. Further, in collaboration with UKM’s Faculty of Information Technology and industry partner United Engineers Malaysia (UEM) which was providing the integral financial support, they started a project in the Iskandar region in the south where UEM is engaged in creating a positive face for the communities. Under the Government’s PINTAR (Promoting Intelligence, Nurturing Talent and Advocating Responsibility) program they work with certain disadvantaged schools in two rural areas. The aim of this project was to get children engaged in experiential creative learning processes to enable them to relate the theoretical knowledge that they had gained in school to address real world projects and problem-solving situations. The school children are carefully monitored by UKM students via face to face and cyber discussions and they have made visits to the engineering laboratories at the university on the weekends. The response from the children has been encouraging as they had not thought previously that they would have a chance of visiting a university, particularly the engineering laboratory of the university. They work under the guidance of student mentors who are university students, and the children’s innovative ideas are developed into workable prototype products. The project has been a rich and an inspiring opportunity for the children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Work is now underway towards integrating it into the mainstream curriculum of the faculty as currently the university students only receive credit under their co-curriculum component. This will remove part of the academics’ work burden, benefit the students and make the mentoring task more manageable.
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To illustrate another case in which engagement is creating impact for UKM’s students and the larger community are the efforts of AIESEC, a large global youth organisation, present in more than a 100 countries worldwide. The AIESEC organisation at UKM is very active with members who possess great passion for what they do and from whom the organisers themselves have also learnt. In this particular case, UKM student, Khairul Ghufran Kaspin, participated in a sixweek community-based internship program in the Gawad Kalinga impoverished urban community in Quezon City. He worked with other interns to plan a business model to establish an education fund for children. Of Muslim background, he stayed with a foster family of Roman Catholic background which was briefed on the needs of a Muslim. The family gave him the only bed they had at home and cooked special food for him. They served him a meal every evening after which they retired to the kitchen to eat separately. This made him feel uncomfortable and so he told them: “I am in your home and you have opened your doors to me. I know you eat certain food which I do not eat, but that doesn’t mean you cannot eat that food with me.” From then on, they started having their meals together. That one student came back and shared his stories with a number of other Muslim students in the university. It is this kind of knowledge sharing and experiences that needs to be imparted for better understanding and harmony, particularly in Malaysia and other countries that face interethnic or inter-cultural challenges.
FIGURE 1.1: Micro-Controller School Innovation Mentoring Project UKM: University students, acting as mentors, work with children from disadvantaged communities to develop creativity and innovation.
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3. Leadership in Multi-Sectoral Research: The extent to which the project leverages on engagement with diverse stakeholders (industry, community, NGOs, government agencies) to advance the niche research areas of the university and contribute to the KPIs of a Research University through external funding & resources, developing the scholarship of engagement through research publications and generation of Intellectual property. 4. Ensuring Sustainability: The extent to which the project demonstrates sustainability through long-term support, funding and resources from stakeholders, and empowers the community through training, knowledge acquisition and education initiatives. 5. Integration of Industry & community research based knowledge and experiences into the curriculum & co-curriculum: The extent to which the project enhances the teaching and learning process and contributes to the development of human capital at the university (undergraduate and postgraduate students) through the innovation in curriculum and co-curriculum. 6. Criteria and indicators for meaningful, productive and sustainable volunteerism initiatives: The MacJannet Prize for Global Citizenship, which Talloires Network members are eligible to apply for, provides a good case of criteria and indicators for meaningful, productive and sustainable volunteerism initiatives. These include: a. Student Leadership: Are students able to work independently, with support from faculty and staff? Are their ideas and contributions valued in the project design? Do they carry out a significant portion of the work?
FIGURE 1.2: Khairul Ghufran Kaspin in Quezon City.
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b. University Support: Has the university supported this program, either financially, in kind, or through policy and recognition of its value? c. Community Involvement: Do the aims of the program meet community needs? Are community members able to contribute to the program? d. Demonstrated Positive Impact on the Community: How many community members have benefited, and to what degree? e. Demonstrated Positive Impact on the Participating Students: Has this program contributed to building civic values and skills for students? Has the program impacted students’ choices about career path or future involvement in community outreach activities? f. Sustainability: How will the program find the needed resources to continue running into the future? What policies and mechanisms support the ongoing success of the program? Are communities engaged in sustaining the program for the long-term? (MacJannet Prize Nomination Form 2012)
Capacity Building for Effective Industry and Community Engagement This strongly aligns with what was raised at the AUN forum and Innsbruck Workshop. There was a hunger from the delegates for training in terms of certified short courses and postgraduate certification in the field of industry and community engagement and social responsibility. This will provide recognition and enable this discipline to be regarded more seriously, and will encourage young people to move into this area as they will receive recognition and qualifications. NGOs and industry (foundations) are very excited at this prospect. Some of the key areas that may be included in this training are as follows: 1. Resource Management in Engagement 2. Budget Planning for Community Projects 3. Leadership in Community Engagement 4. Protocol for Multi-Sector Interaction for community engagement 5. Evaluating the Social Impact of Community Engagement 6. Learning from Case Studies of Community Engagement across different disciplines 7. Learning the Techniques for Generating Funds to Ensure Sustainability of Community Engagement Projects
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The training modules should be developed by a Core Group that involves expert consultants from academia, NGOs, industry and government agencies to provide critical input for the development of content, resources and protocols for community engagement.
Promotional Criteria The major challenge for institutions of higher learning is not preaching to the converted but persuading those driven by traditional promotion criteria that there is value, relevance and excitement in engaging with industry and community partners to enhance research, teaching and service. This then takes us to the heart of most academics as they pursue their work – that is the reward system and criteria for promotion for stimulating universityindustry collaboration. This is not to say that academics do not work from their hearts and give back to society but it helps if there are some rewards and recognition of the efforts undertaken. There were two ways that we could have approached this: one is by developing through promotion criteria a third strand for industry and community engagement and developing indicators for this. We decided against this as it would have put it in direct competition with the other two strands of education and research. We wanted to maintain our philosophy of working in cooperation and support with the others and therefore felt that it was important to integrate industry and community engagement as they support research, education and service and not to regard it as a separate stream. Therefore, we have 50% for research, 30% for education and 20% for service with industry and community engagement supporting all three. For example, in Research, up to 10 bonus points are awarded to academicians who secure key research funding and endowments from industry partners for the university. In Education, efforts to develop programs that enhance the curriculum and co-curriculum upon completion of academic attachment in relevant industries are recognized and rewarded with bonus points in the promotion criteria for Professors. We come now to the last factor that is essential for attaining excellence in community engagement – this is the most difficult one of obtaining financial resources to drive forward initiatives. Without money, the most exciting plans remain beautiful rhetorical ideas because for implementation, one needs a certain amount of money to move the plans forward. With funds being cutback at higher education institutions we have to look at innovative ways in which we can source for external funding to develop public-private
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partnerships. The following examples best illustrate UKM’s innovative mechanisms for encouraging industry/community driven research.
Funding for Engagement with Industry-Community in Research Engagement in research is driven by the knowledge ecosystem to develop innovative R&D solutions in critical areas to enhance business challenges and contribute to the development of communities. At UKM, collaborative research is encouraged for initiatives that have demonstrated value and social impact: the University-industry research grant and the Universitycommunity research grant. Seed funding is provided by UKM for research projects that demonstrate the following criteria: 1. Engage the community in collaborative research through consultative process or community profiling to identify needs and challenges of the community. 2. Demonstrate sustainability by securing matching contributions from private sector stakeholders. 3. Demonstrate clear and measurable outcomes in terms of research output and the impact on community development. The grants have succeeded in securing substantial funding for collaborative research at the university from like-minded industry and corporate sector stakeholders. One example where the university secured a substantial endowment to drive local expert knowledge for regional community development is UKM’s collaboration with the foundation of a major Oil Palm industry player, the Sime Darby Foundation, to establish the UKMYSD Endowed Chair for Climate Change.
UKM-YSD Chair for Climate Change The aim of this Chair is to develop the local scientific knowledge of tropical climate change systems which is essential for ascertaining how nations and communities in the region would be able to address and mitigate their future problems. The Chair provides a much-needed platform for critical knowledge generation and dissemination of information for climate change adaptation in the region. An essential plan for the Chair is to work with multiple stakeholders to spread awareness through capacity building in communities to mitigate climate change effects.
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Through a cascading model, the Chair also facilitates the creation of a cadre of Climate Change Ambassadors amongst the students and the youth of the communities. Researchers will educate university students and local youth to become change agents who can raise awareness, develop knowledge and direct behavioural changes to manage climate change in the community.
Creating Multiplier Effect and Synergies in USR across ASEAN and Asia According to Holland and Ramaley (2008), engagement is already expanding beyond the context of single institutions and their specific communities of interest. This is evident at UKM, where the university’s commitment to community engagement has gained the confidence and trust of many regional and international organisations. We now see the need for replicating our Community Engagement strategic model and sharing experiences, resources and ideas with diverse regional stakeholders, to open up access to our combined resources for the benefit of regional communities. This has culminated in the establishment of AsiaEngage, a brand name formed to maximise the strengths of the Asia-Talloires Network of Industry and Community Engaged Universities (ATNEU), the ASEAN University Network (AUN) Thematic Network on University Social Responsibility and Sustainability (AUN-USR&S) and the ASEAN Youth Volunteer Programme (AYVP).
Asia-Talloires Network of Industry and Community Engaged Universities (ATNEU) The Talloires Network is a global association of over 160 institutions in 55 countries committed to strengthening the civic roles and social responsibilities of higher education. In January 2010, the network began identifying universities from around the world to provide a framework for which policies on civic engagement can be made. UKM captured the attention of the Talloires Network, due to the institutional leadership of its Vice Chancellor, Prof. Tan Sri Dato’ Wira Dr Sharifah Hapsah Syed Hasan Shahabudin in the area of industry and community engagement. UKM then worked with the Talloires Network to establish a regional partner known as the Asia-Talloires Network of Industry and Community Engaged Universities (ATNEU).
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ASEAN University Network (AUN) Thematic Network on University Social Responsibility and Sustainability (AUN-USR&S)
In October 2010, the ASEAN University Network (AUN) Secretariat organised the inaugural workshop on “University’s Social Responsibility and Sustainability from the ASEAN-Japan Perspectives: Sharing and Caring for a Better Community”, hosted at Burapha University, Thailand. The participating AUN member universities at this workshop realized the need to share and exchange ideas, best practices and knowledge with each other and with diverse stakeholders both nationally and across the region. The ASEAN University Network had the foresight and vision to set up the Thematic Network on University Social Responsibility and Sustainability (USR&S) as an enabling mechanism to achieve greater regional cooperation amongst the higher education institutions in ASEAN, to contribute to the social, economic and environmental development of the region. UKM’s bid and proposal to be the Secretariat of the ASEAN University Network’s thematic network on University Social Responsibility & Sustainability was endorsed by the AUN Board of Trustees at their meeting in Luang Prabang, Laos in July 2011.
ASEAN Youth Volunteer Programme (AYVP) At the ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting on Youth in Hanoi, Vietnam on 18th October 2011, the ASEAN member states through the ASEAN Secretariat endorsed UKM’s proposal to develop and implement the ASEAN Youth Volunteer Programme (AYVP). The AYVP is a dedicated youth volunteerism platform supported by the Malaysian Ministry of Youth and Sports that creates opportunities in volunteerism, supports the exchange of learning experiences, develops capacity, enhances crosscultural understanding and forges a sense of regional identity, while making a sustainable difference to communities across ASEAN. All these networks/programme have been given a brand identity of AsiaEngage, which aims to create mutually beneficial partnerships between the Research, Education and Volunteerism missions of higher education with industry and community stakeholders across ASEAN and Asia. All of these knowledge-driven initiatives will contribute powerfully to the development of an ASEAN and Asian community, possessing not only strong minds, but also generous souls to volunteer, develop and enhance the quality of lives of communities around the region.
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AsiaEngage aims to develop ASEAN Communities of Practice for Regional Development through Social Responsibility and Sustainability. The modality would involve: 1. Identifying areas that regional universities have localized expertise in and communities find relevant for impactful regional development. 2. Extracting tacit knowledge for regional development by developing research proposals in specific areas of expertise and through capacity building initiatives. 3. Identifying specific HEIs to take the lead for each area and incorporating other HEIs to establish the Regional Communities of Practice. Each area would involve engagement across Research, Education and Service. 4. Expanding research-driven community engagement initiatives to involve opportunities for Volunteerism for students, academics and nonacademics. Such initiatives will enhance intercultural collaboration across nations whilst developing the Regional Communities of Practice.
Conclusion Through focused initiatives, AsiaEngage will work in partnership with existing regional and international higher education networks as well as industry associations and foundations to capture best practices around the region, provide capacity development and carry out community engagement that helps improve the quality of life for ASEAN and Asian communities. As we work on these initiatives, we hope to synergise with the common interests of diverse stakeholders from universities, industries, government agencies and NGOs to co-create knowledge through mutually beneficial partnerships that honour the core principle of knowledge exchange, to enhance community capacity and contribute to economic development whilst strengthening research and learning outcomes for universities in ASEAN and Asia.
References Botman, H. R. 2010. Hope in Africa: Human Development Through Higher Education Community Interaction. Talloires Network Bellagio Conference, Italy. . 2011. Academia, Industry and Community Collaboration in Malaysia: Strategies and Opportunities for the Future. UNESCO Publication. Gill, S.K. �������������������� Draft Report 2011. 2 ND Asia-Europe Education Workshop - Knowledge
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Societies: Universities and Their Social Responsibilities. Innsbruck, Austria. Holland, B. & Ramaley, J.A. 2008. Creating a Supportive Environment for CommunityUniversity Engagement: Conceptual Frameworks. HERSDA Annual Conference 2008. Kearney, M.L. & Yelland, R. 2010. OECD/IMHE Conference “Higher Education in a World Changed Utterly: Doing More with Less”. Discussion Paper. Mac Jannet Prize Nomination Form. 2012. The Talloires Network. Maldonado, V. 2010. Achieving the MDGs through quadruple helix partnerships: university-government-industry-third sector collaboration. Global University Network for Innovation.http://www.guninetwork.org Sharifah Hapsah. 2008. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia ke Arah Universiti Penyelidikan Unggul. Syarahan Naib Canselor. (Translated: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Towards Excellence as a Research University. Vice-Chancellor’s Lecture) Bangi: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Press. Universitat de Barcelona. Social Responsibility at the UB. http://www.ub.edu/ responsabilitatsocial/en/preguntes UKM’s Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Industry & Community Partnerships. 2010. UKM’s Strategic Plan for University-Community-Industry Engagement. Wallis, R. 2005. Universities and Community Engagement. Directions in Education 14(13):3
Note 1
The ASEAN University Network (AUN) is an autonomous organisation, established under an umbrella of ASEAN and the mandate of Ministers responsible for higher education in ASEAN countries, dealing with the promotion of human resource development in the field of higher education within ASEAN and with its dialogue partners, namely Japan, Korea, China, India, Russia and the EU. For more information, see www.aun-sec.org.
Chapter 2
Innovative Practices in Community-based Engagement and Curricular Development Robert G. Bringle There has been a paradigm shift in higher education that may constitute qualitative changes, not merely small quantitative changes. In contrast to the traditional role of colleges and universities to generate and transmit knowledge via research, teaching, and service, the emerging role of universities is to participate in and with a broader learning society through collaborative discovery, learning, and engagement. This has been accompanied by a shift from teaching to learning. A focus on teaching bases the analysis on inputs (for instance, what academics do), whereas a focus on learning is an output-oriented model that considers the results of that work. Similarly, community engagement is changing academic work to be focused on community outcomes, not just campus outcomes. The new approaches are also providing models for higher education that are more collaborative, interdisciplinary, and integrative across teaching, research, and service (see Bringle, Games, and Malloy 1999; Brukardt, Holland, Percy, and Zimpher 2004; Colby, Ehrlich, Beaumont, and Stephens 2003). In America, Boyer (1994) promoted a new model for higher education that revitalized the notion of community engagement as a central mission for 21st-century colleges and universities. Boyer’s model involves students and faculty in social issues, extends classrooms into communities, balances theory and practice, promotes an integrated view of knowledge, and, ultimately, expands the nature of scholarly work. According to Boyer, the scholarship of engagement “means connecting the rich resources of the university to our most pressing social, civic, and ethical problems, to our children, to our schools, to our teachers, and to our cities” (cited in Glassick 1999: 29). As Boyer envisioned, this also means creating a special climate in which the academic and civic cultures communicate more continuously and more creatively with each other. Boyer challenged higher education to change dramatically in order to adapt to the scholarship of engagement. “What is needed is not just more programs, but a larger purpose, a larger sense of mission, a larger clarity of direction.” (Boyer 1994: A48).
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These new models of community engagement are transforming higher education not only in America but also around the world in Australia, Europe, South America, Asia, and Africa. There have been remarkable developments internationally that support the implementation of service learning and civic engagement, both in K-12 and higher education. The Tailloires Network, an international organisation of colleges and universities devoted to strengthening the civic roles and social responsibilities of higher education, has grown from 29 signatories of the Talloires Declaration in 2005 to 218 members from around the world by 2011. In Asia, the United Board for Christian Higher Education, Service-learning Asia Network, and the Asian Network of Engaged Campuses have all supported conferences and forums related to community-campus engagement. Campus Engage has brought institutions throughout and beyond Ireland together to share best practices, promote professional development, and envision the development of future national systems and policies. The Ma’an Arab University Alliance for Civic Engagement is doing the same with universities in the Arab world. Australia (Australian Universities Community Engagement Alliance), South America (Centro Latinoamericano de Aprendizaje y Servicio Solidario), Canada (Canadian Alliance for Service-Learning), and South Africa (South African Higher Education Community Engagement Forum) have all experienced parallel developments. Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) is a joint campus that has taken community engagement and civic engagement very seriously and has made strong institutional commitments to infrastructure and programs associated with civic engagement. The largely American models of civic engagement that are presented here may be adapted by higher education institutions in other international contexts. I share experiences associated with the civic engagement agenda that have resulted from my work not only at IUPUI but also on other campuses across America and internationally. My perspective for interpreting, framing, and discussing civic engagement is primarily from the point of view of strengthening philanthropic habits of individuals and contributing to organizations that comprise civil society, and less from the perspective of economic development. In order to adapt these models to South East Asia and elsewhere, the first challenge is clarifying for one’s self, one’s institution, and one’s country the meaning and the use of different terms (Bringle, Hatcher, & Holland 2007). The term civic engagement is used at IUPUI, but at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia it is community engagement; in South Africa they prefer to talk about community involvement (Thomson, Smith-Tolken,
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Naidoo, and Bringle 2011). Regardless, of terminology, however, the nature and purpose of these new initiatives must be clearly defined, stated, and presented. At IUPUI, civic engagement is defined as “active collaboration that builds on the resources, skills, expertise, and knowledge of the campus and community to improve the quality of life in communities and in a manner that is consistent with the campus mission� (Bringle and Hatcher 2004: 127). This definition makes clear that we are concerned about the community outcomes of civic engagement. Nevertheless, a university is not a social service agency, and the definition states that civic engagement activities must be compatible with the mission of a campus. Accordingly, civic engagement encompasses teaching, research, and service in and with the community. So what is the scholarship of engagement? First and foremost, it is scholarship. Scholarship results in products and the products of scholarship should be evaluated based on their impact and contributions to a discipline or profession, to a knowledge base, and to the university’s mission through a process of peer review. Civic engagement may produce traditional products (see journal publications, books), but it may also warrant widening the nature of dissemination. As the web becomes more prominent as a means of dissemination it heightens the importance of dissemination through different modalities to broader audiences (Bringle, Hatcher & Clayton 2006). Gibbons et al. (2001) notes that there have been global shifts in research culture from the traditional mode which is pure, disciplinary, homogeneous, expert-led, supply-driven, hierarchical, peer-reviewed, and almost exclusively university-based. The new participatory mode is applied, problem-centred, trans-disciplinary, heterogeneous, hybrid, demand-driven, entrepreneurial, and network-embedded. Second, the scholarship of engagement is a collaborative or participatory process with a focus not only on where the work is done but also on how it is done. Civic engagement, thus, is working with the community, not just in the community, nor just on the community, nor just for the community. To be participatory, engagement activities should demonstrate that knowledge exchange is two-way (for instance., everyone contributes, everyone learns), that no one is exploited, all constituencies benefit (such as., mutual outcomes), and that all parties are co-generators of knowledge. Thus, civic engagement entails collaboration between the campus and community in a manner that produces a democratization of knowledge that acknowledges different ways of knowing and different types of knowledge. The nature of civic engagement is diagrammatically represented in Figure 2.1 in terms of the three traditional areas of academic work: teaching,
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service, and research. Much of academic work occurs on campus, but it can also occur in a community. For example, courses can be delivered at offcampus sites in communities; researchers can collect data in communities; and faculty can share professional expertise in communities.
Distance Education
Teaching
Community
Engagement
Reseach Site
Reseach
Service
Service Learning
Professional Community Service
Participatory Action Reseach
FIGURE 2.1: Engaged Scholarship- Faculty and Student activities “In and With� the Community
How can the curriculum be enhanced with community involvement, how can research be enhanced with community involvement, how can professional service be enhanced through community involvement, and how can those three areas of work contribute and benefit communities? Service applies a faculty member’s knowledge, skills, and expertise as an educator, a member of a discipline or profession, and a participant in an institution to benefit students, the institution, the discipline or profession, and the community in a manner consistent with the mission of the university (Bringle et al. 2007). Service may be in the campus, service can also be devoted to the discipline or profession, and some service may be done in the community. When academics use their professional or disciplinary expertise to inform activities in the community, it is professional service or engaged service. When the professional service or engaged service activities in communities inform the discipline or profession, it constitutes scholarship of service or scholarship of engagement.
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Service learning is portrayed in Figure 2.1 as the intersection of teaching and service and serves dual purposes: (1) it achieves academic learning objectives for the students and enriches their learning; and, (2) it also provides benefits to the community. Service learning is defined as “a course-based, credit-bearing educational experience in which students participate in an organized service activity that meets identified community needs, and reflect on the service activity in a structured manner to gain further understanding of course content, a broader appreciation of the discipline, and an enhanced sense of personal values and civic responsibility” (Bringle et al. 2007). Thus, service learning involves reflection, reciprocity in working with communities, and more importantly, it also provides students with educationally meaningful community service experiences. However, one needs to differentiate volunteering from service learning and internships from service learning. Volunteering is when one helps an NGO or provides direct service to someone in need. The focus is on the recipients of that service and not on the provider of that service. Internships are pre-professional experiences. For example, in psychology students do an internship in a clinic so that they can gain practical experience with what they have learned in the classroom and to receive feedback from working professionals. The focus of the internship is on the learner. Students engage in an internship to prepare for their careers as a professional. Service learning balances those two perspectives. Service learning benefits both the community and the learner. Service learning is a type of experiential education in which reflection activities are intentionally designed and structured so that students link academic course content to the community service activity (such as., group discussions, written products, multi-media presentations). The reflection activities can also be focused on the societal and civic aspects of the community service. The students can also reflect and explore values related to community involvement and to them as a person (such as., examine motives, attitudes, personal growth). Thus, service learning is focused on both ‘serving to learn’ as well as ‘learning to serve’. The goals of the civic education of students may be focused on one of several perspectives. For instance, an ethic of caring is a signature meaning of civic education for the health sciences, particularly in nursing. Similarly, public leadership would be the signature meaning of civic education in the area of public affairs. In social work, social justice is the primary educational interpretation of civic education. Skills and knowledge for political involvement can also encompass a set of learning objectives.
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The IUPUI Centre for Service and Learning has condensed civic education to a common set of objectives for all curricular (e.g., service learning) and co-curricular (e.g., voluntary community service) civic engagement activities by providing one answer to the question, “What would a civic-minded graduate be like?� A Civic-Minded Graduate (CMG) is conceptualized (Bringle Studer Wilson Clayton and Steinberg 2011; Steinberg Hatcher and Bringle in press) as representing: Knowledge: 1. Volunteer Opportunities: Understanding of ways to contribute to society, particularly through voluntary service, and including knowledge of non-profit organizations. 2. Academic Knowledge and Technical Skills: Understanding of how knowledge and skills in at least one discipline are relevant to addressing issues in society. 3. Contemporary Social Issues: Understanding of current events and the complexity of issues in modern society locally, nationally, or globally. Skills: 1. Communication and Listening: Ability to communicate (written and oral) with others, as well as listening to divergent points of view. 2. Diversity: Understanding the importance of, and the ability to work with, others from diverse backgrounds; also appreciation of and sensitivity to diversity in a pluralistic society. 3. Consensus Building: Ability to work with others, including those with diverse opinions, and work across difference to come to an agreement or solve a problem. Dispositions: 1. Valuing Community Engagement: Understanding the importance of serving others, and being actively involved in communities to address social issues. 2. Self-Efficacy: Having a desire to take personal action, with a realistic view that the action will produce the desired results. 3. Social Trustee of Knowledge: Feeling a sense of responsibility and commitment to use the knowledge gained in higher education to serve others.
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Behavioural Intentions: 1. A stated intention to be personally involved in community service in the future. This framework serves as a ‘north star’ that guides the design, implementation, and assessment of curricular and co-curricular civic programming, including but not limited to service-learning enhanced courses (Bringle et al. in press). Like service learning, participatory action research also has dual purposes: (1) it is research that is conducted by academics staff to fulfil their scholarly interest and (2), at the same time, it is research that benefits the community and provides a basis for the community to take action. To the degree that these motives and outcomes converge, the activities and the supporting partnership fulfill the expectations of civic engagement.
Case Studies of Innovative Practices at IUPUI How does civic engagement become part of scholarly and academic work? The following cases are taken from IUPUI faculty to illustrate different pathways by which faculty become civically engaged. Generally speaking, individual faculty are drawn to civic engagement for mainly four reasons: 1. Personal interest and/or passion for an issue which is then integrated into their research and teaching. 2. Orientation of some disciplines (such as., anthropology, social work) which are predisposed towards civic engagement; 3. As a means for enriching teaching and learning (such as., expanding learning outcomes, enhancing student motivation) 4. As a way for improving or adding to their scholarly interests and goals. Greg Lindsey, whose academic area of study is geography, public affairs, and environmental issues, and who had a particular interest in urban greenways, partnered with the Indianapolis Parks Department on a project that converted railroads to urban trails that can be used by hikers, joggers, and bicycle riders. For promotion, his dossier showed links between his service learning courses, his research grants to support his community work, and his publications that were based on his collaborative research with his community partners. His case demonstrates how his civic engagement activities integrated his teaching, research and service. His was an exemplary case of civic engagement and scholarly productivity.
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Another faculty member at IUPUI, Roger Jarjoura, whose area is criminal justice, became involved in civic engagement through an inquiry about professional service at a prison for juvenile offenders. He subsequently integrated student service at that prison into his courses by having his college students mentor juvenile offenders who were about to be released. That led to his research on recidivism rates of juvenile offenders who had been mentored and those who had not been mentored. His research demonstrated to the prisons the value of the mentoring program in terms of savings because the mentored juvenile offenders were returning to prison at lower rates. That program was replicated across the state of Indiana and he spun off an NGO as a result of his work. Subsequently, he has taught jointly with a colleague on a program called “Inside Out�, in which college students take college courses in the prison with prisoners. The classroom provides an opportunity for the college students to interact with prisoners and allows for mentoring. Both the prisoners and the college students earn college credit for that course. There are also examples of faculty members’ research in the community resulting in professional service and service learning. Paul Mullin is an anthropologist interested in the study of artefacts. The IUPUI campus was formed to accommodate thirty thousand students and that construction displaced one thousand homes in a largely African-American community. The homes were torn down and university buildings were built. He began doing excavations on and near the IUPUI campus as additional construction was occurring. Mullin engaged students in his research and that led to integrating the community work with his teaching. He also worked with the communities that are adjacent to the campus to document the history of the area. We also have examples of academic staff who were involved in service which then spilled over to their research and teaching. Katie Stanton teaches physical education at IUPUI and has a family member who is physically disabled. This led her to developing a course on adaptive physical education in which college students adapt physical education activities for a disabled population. This service learning course has students work with families with disabled children and conduct workshops for them as part of the course. As a result of that she is now doing research on the outcomes for those students in the service learning class. Her example also illustrates that there are excellent opportunities for academics to study service learning, and to conduct scholarship and empirical research on service learning. Susan Hyatt, whose field of study is urban anthropology, integrated the study of a neighbourhood in Indianapolis into her urban anthropology course. As a result, the students documented the history of the neighbourhood
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and this past year they produced a book that presented the history of this particular neighbourhood to residents. The book is an important resource for the residents and provides continuity from the past generations of residents to future generations of residents. This is another example for how engaged teaching spilled over to service for the community and the faculty member’s research. As a campus, we decided to concentrate — where possible-on service, research, volunteering, and service learning activities in three contiguous neighbourhoods that are adjacent to the IUPUI campus. With federal seed funding and campus commitments, we developed a Community Outreach Partnerships Centre to concentrate activities on three local neighbourhoods. We asked residents and community leaders what were their priorities. They began to eliminate from a list areas that had existing initiatives (such as, housing, crime). At this point, it is important to note that local communities are sensitive to universities coming in and doing needs assessments. An important transformation of attitude is when campus representatives approach communities with a focus on community strengths and do an asset-based community assessment rather than a needs-based assessment, which is a deficiency model for assessing a community. So we did an asset-based community survey and we found particular issues that did not have existing initiative; this allowed the community and university to concentrate work on those critical issues and that work has been going on for fifteen years. Education was the highest priority as five schools in the neighbourhoods had been closed because of migration of families to the suburbs and, thus, reopening an old school that had been shut down was important. In 2002, the School Board approved the opening of George Washington Community High School (GWCHS) as a community school which has since become a model community school. One of the main anchor partners for this school is IUPUI (Bringle, Grim, Officer and Hatcher 2009). IUPUI students volunteer at the school, staff a fitness centre, and provide tutoring. Faculty provide training in service learning to the teachers at the school and they teach service learning courses in psychology, education, art, physical education, and nursing that involve college students at GWCHS. Student attendance at GWCHS improved from 88% in 2006 to 94% in 2009. More than 50 organisations and businesses partner with GWCHS with over $2 million in services provided annually. The anchor partnerships with community organizations serve 735 students, 449 family members, and 7,245 community members with over $2 million in services provided annually. GWCHS student performance on state exams shows
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improvement on state indicators and 100% of the 2009 graduating seniors from GWCHS were accepted into post-secondary education, remarkable for a public school in America. In 2006, a second school was opened, which is an elementary school. In concluding, civic engagement can provide a basis for institutions of higher education to enhance the teaching, research, and professional service activities in ways that contribute to faculty work, improve and enrich student learning, and benefit communities. In addition, civic engagement can be a revenue stream for institutions. There are no simple formulas for how to do this work, although there are some principles of good practice that can guide the work. Civic engagement will need to be adapted to the national and local context. This requires imagination, innovation, and good judgment. When done successfully, civic engagement can be exceptionally rewarding and practitioners will be well-positioned to contribute to a new and developing model for the future of higher education. I hope that the above cases stimulate your imagination on possibilities for how research and scholarship, teaching and service learning, and professional service and volunteering can be starting points for adding civic engagement initiatives to the institutional identity of colleges and universities across the world.
References Boyer, E. L. 1994. Creating the new American college. Chronicle of Higher Education A48. Bringle, R. G., Games, R., & Malloy, E. A. eds. 1999. Colleges and Universities as Citizens. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon. Bringle, R. G., & Hatcher, J. A. 2004. Advancing civic engagement through service learning. In Public Work and the Academy: An academic Administrator’s Guide to Civic Engagement and Service-Learning, edited by M. Langseth & W.M. Plater. 125-145. Bolton, MA: Anker Press. Bringle, R. G., Hatcher, J. A., & Clayton, P. H. 2006. The scholarship of civic engagement: Defining, documenting, and evaluating faculty work. To Improve the Academy 25: 257-279. Bringle, R. G., Officer, S., Grim, J., & Hatcher, J. A. 2009. George Washington Community High School: Analysis of a partnership network. In New Reactions in Youth Development, edited by I. Harkavy & M. Hartley. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass: 41-60. Bringle, R. G., Hatcher, J. A., & Holland, B. 2007. Conceptualizing civic engagement: Orchestrating change at a metropolitan university. Metropolitan Universities 18(3): 57-74. Bringle, R. G., Studer, M. H., Wilson, J., Clayton, P. H., & Steinberg, K. 2011. Designing programs with a purpose: To promote civic engagement for life. Journal of Academic Ethics 9(2): 149-164.
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Brukardt, M. J., Holland, B., Percy, S. L., & Zimpher, N. 2004. Calling the question: Is higher education ready to commit to community engagement? A Wingspread statement. Milwaukee, WI: Milwaukee Idea Office, University of WisconsinMilwaukee. Colby, A., Ehrlich, T., Beaumont, E., & Stephens, J. 2003. Educating citizens: Preparing America’s undergraduates for lives of moral and civic responsibility. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Gibbons, M., et al. 1994. The New Production of Knowledge: The Dynamics of Science and Research in Contemporary Societies. London: Sage Publications. Glassick, C.E. 1999. Ernest L. Boyer: Colleges and universities as citizens. In Universities and Colleges as Citizens, edited by R.G. Bringle, R. Games, & R.E.A. Malloy. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon: 17-30. Steinberg, K, Hatcher, J. A., & Bringle, R. G. (in press). A north star: Civic-minded graduate. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning. Thomson, A. M., Smith-Tolken, A., Naidoo, A. V., & Bringle, R. G. 2011. Service learning and civic engagement: A comparison of three national contexts. Voluntas 22: 214-237.
Part 2
The Value Of Everaging Industry’s and Non-governmental Organisation’s (NGO)’s Experiences in Driving University Social Responsibility There is value in leveraging on the Industry’s and NGOs’ experiences in driving USR with the focus on quality of engagement and good intentions. A number of organizations engage with their communities to support engagement initiatives such as to improve education and people’s welfare. Here then, industry and NGOs need to continue to engage with academia to deliver meaningful USR results with integrity and trust. However, organisations may need to identify or clarify further the aspects of their engagement whether they be innovation, conservation, capacity building, problem-solving, healthcare and the like. The Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) and Mercy Malaysia are two NGOs which have collaborated with academics and students whilst multinational corporation Sime Darby’s foundation or Yayasan Sime Darby supports academia for research on advancing sustainable environment. One of Sime Darby’s main challenges is to address actively the needs, expectations and inter-relatedness of all the stakeholders found in the environment and communities within which it operates (http://www. simedarby.com/CSR, accessed 10 February, 2012). MNS’s mission to promote the study, appreciation, conservation and protection of Malaysia’s natural heritage would be better served with the active support of higher education institutions as would Mercy Malaysia’s aim for sustainable health related development and risk reduction activities, particularly amongst vulnerable communities.
Chapter 3
Malaysia’s Environmental Voice Developed: Case Of Malaysian Nature Society P.N. Avadhani Modern developments in industry and agriculture were due to expansion of knowledge and technological skills. The main focus of all such developments is maximizing profits but, there are individuals and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) advocating moderation and responsible behaviour. The belief is that if all work in harmony then that contributes towards sustainable and socially responsible collaboration for environmental development. The twain of East and West has met in South East Asia as we can play our role by synthesizing western and eastern models in exploring modalities for environmental development. Research provides knowledge, education disseminates this knowledge and serve to apply this knowledge which in turn can benefit society. Academics have to transmit their research findings to society. An effective and conscientious academic will be committed to do research on a subject of his or her passion, irrespective of external pressures and then look for aspects of the research which can be useful for society, to apply the knowledge gained to solve problems in society. Universities have been aligned to community needs for a long time. An academic needs to regularly interact with the community and give them their perspective on relevant topics and be able to understand the community’s fears and frustrations. This involvement of the community is a two-way process. One, is to learn and the other is to teach. Learning and teaching are complementary. They are not unidirectional but bi-directional movements that work. To this end we can trace the relationship between academics, the community and the Malaysian Nature Society. Originally named the Malayan Nature Society, it was formed in 1940 by a few British expatriates who were essentially civil servants interested in the lush natural heritage of Malaysia. As keen naturalists working for instance in the forestry and other related departments, they had collectively accumulated a significant
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collection of field notes felt to be invaluable national natural history records and which they decided should be published and the Malayan Nature Journal (MNJ) was born. With members from Singapore and Malaysia, the main mandate in the 1940s was to publish the journal, describing the natural habitats, and the flora and fauna observed. The academics helped these amateur members of the nature society to transcribe their work into publishable material. In the 1960s and 1970s, there was a lot of economic development in this region with new roads being opened, timber extracted, oil palm planted, rubber plantations expanded and there was a need for environment assessments. The Malayan Nature Society (MNS) piloted and championed it again with the support of academics. The field surveys were conducted by the student members from MNS who were also students of the academic institutions. In 1964, MNS was informed that the Endau Rompin area was a breeding place of Sumateran Rhinoceros. The Singapore branch members of MNS launched field trips into the area, looking for evidence. Students from the then University of Malaya in Singapore assisted them and lecturers analysed the findings. Later in the 1970s, academics from University Malaya, University Science Penang, and University of Singapore championed the Endau Rompin Park along with members of MNS and with Danish government funding. In recent years however, academics stopped getting involved in the publications and field trips. Singapore and Malaysia kept their relationship of a united MNS until 1991 when the Malaysian Nature Society was instituted but the journal is still called the Malayan Nature Journal publishing on specific topics such as snakes, orchids, and ferns. Today, the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) is the largest membership based environmental organisation in Malaysia and has become a strong voice for conservation presenting their stand in promoting and ensuring responsible environmental stewardship and secure a Protected Area system in the country. MNS manages four national Parks in collaboration with state governments and corporate partners. Currently, MNS has 14 branches with one branch in some states and two branches in others. Every branch has one field trip and one lecture session every month. This translates to about at least 144 public lectures in a year which is a considerable amount of knowledge transmitted to the public. However, we as a community, we have not capitalized on the synergies. The Environmental Education Initiatives of MNS look to empower current and future generations of Malaysians to act for protecting Malaysia’s natural heritage. MNS is establishing a network of environmental education
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centres (EECs) for awareness raising and capacity building educational programs and activities as well as to promote environmental education. We target school students and take them on trips to educate them on forest activities. Our centre at the Forest Research Institute (FRIM) in Kuala Lumpur is a tripartite relationship between Shell (a corporate body, MNS (an NGO and FRIM (a Government agency). Many people who visit our centers and partcipate in our activities sustain their interest in nature and later join as volunteers and someeven FIGURE 3.1: MNS Belum-Temengor become MNS staff. In fact a number Campaign Poster of staff of other environmental organizations are are from MNS. Thus we are the training ground for a number of nature volunteers. The field education centre at Rimba Ilmu the botanical garden in University Malaya is run with the support of the university. We also run the Wetlands education centre in Sungai Buloh as a case study centre, leased unofficially to us by the Selangor state government. The EECs would also serve to establish links with global conservation and environmental education networks. Among NGOs, MNS is most effective in publishing journals. Apart from the scientific periodical, Malayan Nature Journal, we also have another publication Naturalist which publishes shorter articles to communicate key conservation messages and increase environmental awareness. We also have a conservation publication series. We work with both corporations and individuals to produce these publications. Documents produced by MNS such as the Directory of Important Bird Areas in Malaysia – Key Sites for Conservation, MNS Forest Policy & Strategic Plan and the MNS Blueprint for Conservation in tandem with national policies such as the National Physical Plan and National Policy on Biological Diversity are used to advocate for habitat protection. One such advocacy campaign is the MNS Belum-Temengor Campaign started in 2006 which aims to conserve the Belum-Temengor Forest Complex in its entirety.
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Belum – Temengor: One of Malaysian Nature Society’s Campaign Efforts Over the years, MNS has succeeded in running a number of conservation projects and conservation education programs. Some brief highlights of the MNS footprints are submitted below. For a more detailed account the MNS website may be accessed at www.mns.org.my. In the 1960s, there were 30 conservation programs, including ‘Save Batu Caves’ campaign. From 1976 to 1980, the blueprint for conservation in Malaysia was launched. Our campaigns are essentially to save all the pristine areas in Malaysia. In the 1980s, we had Save Pulau Redang campaign, started the Endau-Rompin Heritage Expeditions and also established the Kuala Selangor Nature Park and BOH-MNS Field Study Centre. We also launched a bi-monthly bird bulletin. In 1990, in conjunction with MNS’s 50th anniversary a conference on Conservation of Tropical Biodiversity was organised. In 1991, MNS was the recipient of the UNEP GLOBAL 500 award. In the 1990s, MNS succeeded in gazetting and establishing the Endau-Rompin Nature Park; formed the Malaysian Climate Change Group (MCCG), an alliance of three local NGOs; launched Green the Nation - Tree Planting Group and joined the campaign against constructing Bakun Dam. Also in the 1990s, we conducted avifauna surveys for instance of Paya Indah in Selangor, and of Tasik Chini in Pahang; set up nature education and research centres, nature clubs (Kelab Pencinta Alam) in schools with the cooperation of the Education Ministry, and created conservation awareness programs. In 2000, MNS was the co-organiser of the Millennium Tree Planting – A Green Gift to the Nation and we gained an entry to the Guinness World Book of Records for planting 110,000 trees in one minute. In 2001, Save Sungei Buloh Forest Reserve was launched and in 2002, we instituted the Forest Policy and Strategic Plan (2002 – 2010). For the Belum-Temengor forest conservation initiative, MNS had a nationwide postcard campaign which collected 80,000 signatures. This initiative saw success with the Perak state government gazetting the Royal Belum State Park in 2007. One of the projects which MNS has currently undertaken is the migration of birds. We have worked on conserving and bird-watching programmes that include the Hornbill Conservation Project launched in the Belum-Temenggor forest complex, the Milky Stork Captive Breeding &
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Reintroduction Program at the Kuala Selangor Nature Park. Every March, the society organizes the largest Raptor Watch with the public, academics, and students joining members to participate in this process. In Singapore, the Nature Society of Singapore identified Jurong as a niche area for a bird sanctuary after studying their migration with the aid of academics, an instance of the interaction between the government and NGOs. In 2005, MNS introduced Malaysia’s first national checklist of birds. In 2008, MNS launched the bird i-witness, Malaysian version of the World birds database, an online Database system and also won the won Birdlife International Conservation award. In the same year, MNS also won the inaugural Merdeka award in the Environment Category. While biodiversity of tropical rain forests is very high, there has been a decline in the flora and fauna there as a sustainable resources today. This needs to be communicated to the public at large and this is a role academics can continue to play. Malaysian academic institutions need to capitalize on Malaysia’s location advantage. Unfortunately it appears that Malaysian academics discarded their interest in taxonomy, ecology, biodiversity and instead start researching molecular biology, gene sequence, genetic engineering and related areas. While not rejecting the value of the latter, if the academics focus their research on the eco physiology, biodiversity, and sustainability of tropical rainforest, they would have the location advantage which would give us an edge in research internationally. When discussing academic-community cooperation, the Malaysian Nature Society and universities in Malaysia and Singapore were probably among the best models. There must be some mechanism for cooperation in education if we want successful community projects creating the right spirit and attitude. Educational institutes today need to co-operate again with the Malaysian Nature Society, not only organising field projects as done previously but also to extend it to other people and universities for a more co-operative enterprise. Community organisations have a mission and passion while Universities have the knowledge. But if you do not put the passion and the knowledge together, you will not get far. NGOs will help researchers elevate their research to the next level of passion. Academics who are interested in environment conservation and biodiversity should participate in community work to become more effective. We need more collaborations and interactions in the sphere of nature and the environment to enhance synergies. It would help if academics document the information more scientifically and assist MNS in running biodiversity surveys. MNS also
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needs the support of the academic community to conduct sustainable forestry research. For future engagement in the advancement of the community, it is suggested that MNS and an academic institution, such as Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, explore setting up an institute of tropical rainforest studies which does field work with the financial support of industry. It could serve as a field study centre for tropical rainforest and tropical biology for local and overseas universities.
References Malaysian Nature Society at http://www.mns.my/ Malaysian Naturalist Volume 64.1 September 2010 MNS Strategic Plan MNS Conservation Series
Chapter 4
Malaysians in the International Humanitarian Arena: Profile Mercy Malaysia P. Shanmuhasuntharam MERCY Malaysia, a volunteer based NGO in Malaysia, started in 1999, focuses on providing medical relief, sustainable health-related development and risk reduction activities for vulnerable communities. Our mobile clinics provide free basic medical and dental treatment to vulnerable and underprivileged communities. In Community Based Disaster Risk Management, we engage the at-risk communities in efforts to reduce their vulnerabilities and enhance their capacities. We also work on WASH an — acronym for water sanitation and hygiene — for safe water provision strategies. Mercy Malaysia works with local universities in Malaysia to achieve their USR objectives. In the humanitarian world, directed workers generally tend to be more of doers who will roll up their sleeves and jump in head long and that had been the practice until the mid-1990’s, when the Rwanda Crisis happened and we realized that good intentions were not good enough. We needed to formalize the way we did things and have evidence to support the way we do things. Evidence based practice is the gold standard for professionalism in whatever we do. This was where universities were helpful because by their very nature, academics had better attitude, training, and temperament for research compared to ordinary humanitarian workers. As a result, there was a lot of collaboration with universities as they helped to determine how best to respond, to audit the way Mercy worked and to validate our practices. For example, MERCY Malaysia signed a MoU with Pusat Perubatan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (PPUKM) on July 17, 2008, working together through academic and research framework in the fields related to assistance operations, particularly for Nias, Sumatera. Together we set up the Nurses Training Programme in April 2009 at Rumah Sakit Umum (RSU) Gunung Sitoli, Nias, Sumatera. The students were monitored/examined at UKM itself. The objective of these trainings is to give the exposure to the nurses in RSU Gunung Sitoli to enrich their knowledge of common
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practice in other hospitals as per the international standards. The aim is to improve and develop a higher capacity in the hospital in serving the people of Nias. We reviewed whether what was being done actually benefited the targeted groups as well as how it could be further improved. The first modules that were given to 119 nurses covered Professional Development, Infection Control and Emergency Department, and was held from 29th July to 2nd August 2009. This was followed by the second modules of Ward Management, Central Sterile Supply Department, Operation Theatre and Intensive Care Unit from 22nd – 29th March 2010. The total participants were 94 nurses for the second modules. Also, medical schools of universities offer some of the best pools of volunteers for Mercy projects. More universities now better understand their role and are coming forward to sign Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with Mercy Malaysia and are more willing to release their staff to go on missions. There is more support and it is top down rather than bottom up, such as in our MOU with Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) where the directive has come from the top management. We have a good relationship, getting volunteers for deployment in emergencies that same evening or on next day. We also help to identify opportunities for universities when they inform us of their strengths and interests, for instance in forming cataract (eye) or cleft lip and palate teams from the relevant universities such as in the Science University of Malaysia (USM) and these teams provide their service in Asia. We also provide opportunities for research in our NGO work. For example, when working in earthquake disaster areas we had the opportunity to try out different types of building designs as part of architecture and had papers published. Publishing work on disaster related areas in journals is increasing. Mercy Malaysia upholds the Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief and holds itself accountable to donors and beneficiaries.
Mercy Malaysia’s Recent Work in Crisis and Non-crisis Situations Earthquakes have always been among the most dramatic of MERCY Malaysia’s emergency responses due to the usually sudden onset and acute overwhelming nature of earthquakes as opposed to other natural disasters and conflict situations. MERCY Malaysia responds from a geographical and humanitarian needs perspective, depending on the complexity, severity and impact of an earthquake.
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MERCY Malaysia deployed two teams to Japan following the earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. We worked with our local partner, the Association of Medical Doctors of Asia (AMDA) to serve the affected communities in Kamishi and Otsuchi providing medical services and distributing essential items at evacuation centres and hosting families. The teams also visited the damaged sites to understand the scale of the devastation. In Otsuchi, the only hospital was not functioning and all the private clinics had been destroyed, losing medical records and this affected especially the older people who needed medication for chronic diseases. We are also helping AMDA to revitalize medical services in Otsuchi. The second team supported the relief efforts in the Iwate Prefecture. In 2010, we responded to the deadly earthquakes in Haiti and Chile and then later in the year to the earthquake in Mentawai in Indonesia. In 2005, MERCY Malaysia began focusing on Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) in its humanitarian relief operations. In Bangladesh, about 30 to 40 million people are drinking arsenic-contaminated water from wells and many more millions are at risk. In collaboration with various partners, the main being the Dhaka Community Hospital, MERCY Malaysia is helping to reduce dependency on the contaminated water by installing rain water harvesting units in selected communities and training them to use and maintain these units properly. Currently, MERCY Malaysia is working on an Arsenic Mitigation Project in the Kabarikhola village to provide publicly-accessible safe- and arsenic-free water. MERCY Malaysia was engaged heavily in the disaster response to the heavy floods in Pakistan in 2010, affecting more that 20 million people at its height, and made worse by complex armed insurgency. Closer to home, MERCY Malaysia showed the synergy between staff and volunteers in dealing with the floods effectively in the northern states of Kedah and Perlis. It worked with partners in Kedah and Perlis as well as with affected local communities. New programs and projects initiated in 2010 in Malaysia include a vaccination program for children of Myanmarese refugees and a disaster preparedness program with disabled people. The long term Cleft Lip and Palate Program (CLIPP) in collaboration with USM was further enhanced as was the flagship Disaster Risk Reduction program in schools in cooperation with the Education Ministry and Exxon-Mobil Malaysia. We also collaborate in training as reflected in work with Cyberjaya University College of Medical Science (CUCMS) on disaster medicine. CUCMS decided that their medical degree program should have a bigger component of disaster medicine as helping out in disaster areas is increasing.
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MERCY Malaysia in Pakistan flood relief
We have an MOU with CUCMS, most importantly in two areas in particular. Firstly, we have a ‘Young MERCY’ program in CUCMS, the first and so far the only one of its kind. Launched in March 2007, it was established to instil the spirit of humanitarianism amongst young Malaysians, the future doctors and pharmacists at CUCMS. There is a curriculum program for students and young volunteers to increase competency in medical relief and humanitarian aid. The students are inducted into this program and they participate in voluntary work and training, some with MERCY Malaysia directly. Secondly, our staff and volunteers teach at CUCMS as guest lecturers as they have medical/humanitarian relief as a compulsory academic module. There is a loosely associated Young Mercy organisation in medical schools at some universities where they emulate the way Mercy Malaysia works and carries out medical projects. The ethos is that they start as student volunteers and when they graduate to become doctors, they would be more likely to participate in our programs. In the Master’s dental public health program at the University of Malaya, there is a module for community work for two months where the students conduct research or help us with some of our community clinical work. When these students who are training to become administrators in the public health service see how we work they have a better appreciation for NGO work and are more willing to help us with getting volunteers when necessary, later on. Undergraduate medical and dental students get a feel of community work by assisting us in work
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duties such as taking basic statistics and screening patients before they see a doctor. The above illustrates some of the work MERCY Malaysia has been involved in, particularly with the universities in Malaysia as well as generally on our Total Disaster Risk Management approach of Emergency Response, Recovery, Prevention/ Mitigation, and the final phase of Preparedness/ Readiness.
Reference Mercy Malaysia, http://www.mercy.org.my/ and Annual Report 2010
Chapter 5
Sime Darby Foundation’s Corporate Social Responsibility Yatela Zainal Abidin Multinational Sime Darby is in the business of plantations, property, heavy equipment, oil and gas as well as a distributor of BMW and Ford vehicles and provider of health care. Sime Darby rakes in an annual revenue of about RM35 billion, with profits of between two to five billion ringgit a year. It only makes sense to give back to the community and for that reason Yayasan Sime Darby (Sime Darby Foundation or YSD) was formed. YSD was set up in 1982 to promote the quest for knowledge, goodwill, and understanding, particularly in countries in which it has business interests. It works closely with Sime Darby Group for donations ranging from between 30 million to 100 million ringgit a year, depending on profits. YSD activities are guided by a policy of non-discrimination, to ensure that the funds at its disposal benefit all deserving parties. It works in five key areas or pillars: education (including scholarships); conservation of the environment and protection of ecosystems; community development; youth, sports and recreation; and arts and culture. Proposals for projects that deliver values across broad segments of society, generate tangible and measureable results and are aligned with YSD pillars shall be given due consideration. 1. Under the pillar of education for education development, the following initiatives are highlighted: a. In the scholarship award programs there are three categories: Excellence, Enrichment and Underprivileged. The excellence awards are for deserving undergraduate and post graduate degree students. We have provided scholarships to excellent students studying in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau. They have to be academically excellent, active in CSR and co curriculum and come from disadvantaged family backgrounds.
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Deserving students whose family income is below RM 2,500 per month as well as those physically challenged (OKU) who perform well in their studies are eligible to apply for scholarships in the ‘underprivileged’ category. There are also special awards for overseas students who wish to study in Malaysia. Since 1982, YSD has given out 1,392 scholarships amounting to 130 million ringgit. The focus is on skills at the diploma level under the Enrichment category scholarships. These scholarships are awarded to vocationally inclined students under the YSD Skills Enrichment Program who face financial constraints in pursuing their tertiary education. The successful candidates will pursue diploma or technical certificate programs at the Sime Darby Plantation Academy, Sime Darby Nursing and Health Sciences College, or Sime Darby Industrial Academy. The Industrial Academy (SDIA) is an approved National Vocation Training Centre, recognised by the Ministry of Human Resources, Malaysia which offers specialised technical courses in the heavy equipment industry. b. To further support disadvantaged students, we have adopted two under privileged and under-performing schools in Perak for a total of RM900,000 commitment for three years from 2010 to provide structured development courses for the school teachers; and motivate to improve academic performance of targeted students in three critical subjects at the Form Three Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) and Form Five Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) levels. We feel it is important to support these by building capacity, that is, to ensure the teachers are able to drive excellence, a difficult task but needed for changing the cultural mind-set of teachers and students alike — how they think, how they act — to develop a culture of excellence with a focus on soft skills development of the teachers and students in that school. The teachers attended a one-week training excellence program at a high performing school in Gombak (outside Kuala Lumpur). We have also brought in specialist teachers to mentor these schools teachers and facilitate weekend classes. These are all measures to help empower the teachers in that school so that the culture of excellence is instilled to carry out quality and effective teaching and learning in the future.
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2. As we are mindful about the environment, we collaborate with institutions for environment conservation and protection of ecosystems. Our major collaborations are through endowed chairs that help to spearhead the development of knowledge areas of great value to communities and the nation. a. The chair for climate change hosted at the Research Centre for Tropical Climate Change System (IKLIM), Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) is the first of its kind in Malaysia. This will spear-head research that can identify the impact of climate change at the local and regional level, commit policies for sustainable development based on scientific findings, and aid in the development of mitigation and adaptation strategies for extreme events and oceanic conditions. The chair, an endowment fund of five million ringgit, will also address immediate and specific benefits for Sime Darby’s business interests as the research activities under the Program are expected to yield reliable and up-to-date climate information, including seasonal climate forecasts, all of which are important and useful for planning and management of plantation operations. b. To make a sustainable future a reality, we are supporting the chair of sustainable development towards zero waste at UKM. It is an endowment fund of 15 million ringgit, in line with Sime Darby’s tagline of “Developing Sustainable Futures”. To address the urgent need to reduce emissions through green technology and innovative practices, the chair aims to develop and implement a Malaysian model for sustainable development. YSD sees its potential to benefit the nation, environmentally as well as economically, and to meet the government’s and the palm oil industry players’ sustainability objectives. With the ultimate aim of zero waste and turning palm oil mills into green factories which are carbon neutral and generate a negative carbon footprint, this research is a significant collaboration between industry and university to deal with two important challenges concurrently: conserving the environment, and devising more sustainable practices for the palm oil industry, a case of knowledge sharing to help resolve issues and maintain goodwill internationally. c. We are proud to be associated with the world’s largest ecological experiment, a research project on stability of altered forest ecosystems (SAFE) in Sabah, Malaysia. We have made a 30 million ringgit commitment for 10 years to the Royal Society of
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London for Conservation for it, aimed at understanding the impact of forest modification (forest conversion to oil palm plantation) on biodiversity, and ecosystem functioning. SAFE is a world-first integrated science program, with research focusing on aspects of climatology, hydrology, biogeochemistry, plant ecology, and animal ecology. The SAFE Project is to provide guidelines on how to best design and manage oil palm plantations to minimize and mitigate environmental impacts while maximizing economic benefits. To be implemented by the South East Asia Rainforest Research Program (SEARRP), it has the support of universities, the National Environment Research Council (UK) and external research groups (for example, Natural History Museum and Carnegie Institution) as well as the Sabah Foundation and Sabah Forestry Department. Capacity building is also emphasized as the funding includes allocations for doctoral scholarships, training locally recruited research assistants/ laboratory technicians, and developing extensive research infrastructure in Sabah as well as sponsoring public education awareness programs on the importance of sustainable plantation management and biodiversity conservation.
3. The community development pillar supports initiatives and programs intended to promote the well-being of disadvantaged people, irrespective of race, culture, religion, creed and gender. a. We have provided an endowment fund of 2.5 million ringgit for the Royal Ungku Aziz’s chair for poverty eradication in collaboration with the Centre of Poverty Eradication Studies at the University of Malaya. The chair was set up to honour Ungku Aziz’s (a previous vice-chancellor of the university) contribution to poverty eradication to ensure that his legacy continues. The first chair holder was Professor Jeffrey Sachs, the world renowned academician, Director of Earth’s Institute University of Columbia. b. YSD has committed RM900,000 for three years to the Yayasan Chow Kit initiative which provides education, recreation and empowerment programs to disadvantaged, abused youths and equip them with important life skills to enable them to make better life choices. The KL Crash Pad is located in Chow Kit in Kuala Lumpur and open to runaways and others involved in fringe
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activities, to help integrate them with the larger community. The literacy program helps those who are unable to attend school as they do not possess birth certificates or other related documents or those who have dropped out from school. The Empowering Education Program includes sexual health education talks to empower children and adolescents to understand their physical, emotional, and mental needs. There are also counselling and therapy sessions as well as life skills training programs. 4. YSD also aims to promote the development of arts and culture to encourage creativity in multicultural Malaysia under the arts and culture pillar. To that end, a project with Akademi Seni dan Warisan Kebangsaan (ASWARA) will be launched in an effort to promote a better appreciation and understanding of cultures through dance, with YSD support totalling RM380,000 for a year. ASWARA will stage dance performances and workshops showcasing Malaysia’s diverse cultures and heritage and also ensure that the dances survive in contemporary times. 5. Recognising that the youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow, YSD supports programs that promote youth development to enable them to become productive members of society under the Youth, Sports and Recreation pillar. In conclusion, among the challenge we face are that our articles limit our charitable activities to be based only in Malaysia to benefit Malaysians. But we can provide exemptions for scholarships. According to tax requirements, funds that we donate are not allowed to be used to benefit Sime Darby as a group or any of its employees. For scholarships, the employees or their children can compete with the public. But the biggest challenge faced presently is that because of the size and the number of plantations Sime Darby owns, our community programs sometimes benefit our estate workers but this is not permitted and YSD is currently appealing that ruling for exemption.
Part 3
Mechanisms to Enhance Youth and Community Engagement across ASEAN and Asia The current generation of youth is looking into social world-changing innovation as a career opportunity (Elaine Smith & Instituto Geracao 2011). A number of the wealthy generation Y group has turned to their family business or parents’ career paths to plan their future and are interested in social responsibility and engagement. However, it is also lamented that numbers of young volunteers are dwindling and that it is more retirees who are volunteering their services. Bearing that in mind, what are mechanisms to enhance youth and community engagement and service across ASEAN and Asia? Projects that utilise non-formal education methods to promote the acquisition of key competences and develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes of volunteers and communities in different fields need more attention. Greater mutual understanding between Asia and Europe can be promoted through intellectual, cultural and people-to-people exchanges. Youth in the ASEAN and Asian region can play a huge role in embracing entrepreneurship and can learn how to launch technology ventures. Pathways to educate and empower civil society through the use of a range of new inexpensive technological devices need to be made more accessible.
References Rudin, A. 2011. Next Generation Wealth — Creating Pathways for Armies of Good. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/april-rudin/nexus-youth-summit-2011. Smith, E. & Instituto Geracao 2011. The social engagement of young wealth-holders and entrepreneurs. http://philanthropynews.alliancemagazine.org/
Chapter 6
Promoting Volunteerism: Profile of Coordinating Committee for International Voluntary Service (CCIVS) Francesco Volpini The Coordinating Committee for International Voluntary Service, (CCIVS) was created post World War Two, as part of an effort by the United Nations to build and promote intercultural dialogue. Post-war reconstruction challenges and an increasing number of volunteer organisations led to discussions at UNESCO on ways to coordinate and encourage efforts of volunteering. The result was that in 1948, CCIVS was established, based at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. It is important to change one’s perspective when you work with institutional partners who may have a very different perspective from you on the same action that you want to run together. The different international institutions include UNESCO, the European Commission, the United Nations, UN volunteers as well as local networks. A simplified analogy may be made to a big Russian doll which represents people. Inside there are smaller ones so one may go from organizations with wide networks acting at the international level to regional bodies, acting for instance only in Asia or only in Africa or only in a part of the continent. These would be coordinated from the organizations at the national level to many other smaller organizations at the local level because the national organizations often have service activities with local partners in the individual villages served. This can be quite complex as each organization has members of different networks according to regional interest and specific fields of action. CCIVS’s role is to try to coordinate all of them.
Themes of Engagement Through non-formal education methods, CCIVS promotes the acquisition of key competences and develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes of
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volunteers and communities in different fields. Today, CCIVS members focus on the five themes of Intercultural Dialogue, Sustainable Development, World Heritage, Health and Conflict Transformation. In the area of intercultural dialogue for instance, in a vaccination campaign there can be Japanese and Filipino volunteers in the Philippines.
FIGURE 6.1 : A Japanese volunteer helping an injured Japanese volunteer
Inter-cultural Dialogue : The Philippines, 1955 Figure 5.1 shows a Japanese volunteer who has an injury and a Filipino volunteer in the Philippines. The Filipino is healing the wounds of the volunteer and one can reflect that as the wound of the volunteer is healed, a step is taken to also heal a wound of the world. Historically, Japan was not a friendly nation to the Philippines. Through volunteerism, CCIVS works at grass roots levels with locals on issues of concern and this includes sustainability. Below is a picture with UNESCO’s name on a garbage bin, probably the first time UNESCO’s name was on a garbage bin. It was also the first time the village in Cambodia would have seen a garbage bin. This initiative was started after CCIVS did some research at their level to identify garbage collection as a priority and it tried to put the first garbage collection system in this small remote village of Cambodia. Another area that CCIVS works on is heritage. Heritage functions as a symbol of diversity in a culture and also as a social economic driver at the local level.
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FIGURE 6.2 : Education for Sustainable Development
Health is another theme of work, in particular the prevention of HIV Aids. A lot of cultural differences have been discerned in running this project and CCIVS has a number of such ongoing projects all around the world partnering with different agencies. It is also part of its networking and sharing knowledge in the network. Another theme of work for the International Community Service is conflict transformation. While work in Palestine has not yet been transformational, CCIVS has other successful examples, such as in Nepal working in camps with young soldiers. It also works extensively on transforming corporations to coexist with the local culture. To follow a simple adage, have a little less conversation and a little more action when doing work.
FIGURE 6.3 : HIV / AIDS Prevention talks in rural communities
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Building Non-formal Education and Key Competences Occasionally, delegates and volunteers themselves have to do physical construction work when building communities in underprivileged places. In 1963, in Cameroon, they themselves built a meeting room and installed piped water. This reinforces the idea of the network and voluntary service that involves people from different countries and different cultures. To sustain educational activity there is non-formal education. Sometimes it is borderline formal and informal education. For instance, when building a school in south Italy the volunteers came from Germany to show that they were also committed to learning. Decisions for projects cannot just come from the top without the necessary research. The concept of education is that education is everything that humanity has learned about itself (Jacques Delors 1999). Formal education systems tend to emphasize acquiring knowledge. Instead, education should be conceived in a more encompassing fashion-to inform and guide future educational reforms and policy, both for content and methods. Using key competences as a tool to describe the learning outcomes from experiences gained within non formal education programs is relatively new. Travelling this path is part of an overall strategy to support young people in their personal lives in the learning process and to promote the recognition of youth work in the wider society and its importance in political priorities. One part of this strategy is to focus on employability while the other part looks at the future lives of young people coping with the challenges that come from changes in societies. This common key competences framework helps us in using a more coherent language to talk about learning experiences across different environments. The European Commission has identified 19 competences which include being able to communicate, having social and civic competencies, as well as possessing initiative and entrepreneurship skills. The way we try to complete formal education experience starts from concrete experience. However, in voluntary service, education activities whether at the community service level or at internal level in different countries, is a learning cycle where the students, the communities, organisations, academics, and the whole university learns. Before the experience, we can try to plan together what we would like the community to learn, what we would like the students to learn, or what we would like academics to learn. After the experience, we can review and reflect on
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the experience. We can try to conceptualize and try to conclude from the experience a more general rule that we would like to apply again when we plan a new project. While it is not complicated, it is more complex in reality than just than the concrete experience. A community may gain clear learning and practical outcomes from specific projects. While the project structures need not be necessarily replicated or duplicated in other communities or contexts, the specific competences can be shared for work that corresponds to these competences. CCIVS has the competences in attitude, skills and knowledge which can be imparted in the implementation of projects.
Reference Coordinating Committee for International Voluntary Service (CCIVS) http://www. ccivs.org/.
Chapter 7
Engaging the Youth in the Community: Profile of the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) Rob Van Leeuwen The Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) promotes greater mutual understanding between Asia and Europe through intellectual, cultural and people-to-people exchanges. Through ASEF, civil society concerns are included as a vital component of deliberations of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM)1. ASEF was established in February 1997 by the participating governments of ASEM. ASEF has since implemented over 500 projects, engaging over 15,000 direct participants as well as reaching out to a much wider audience in Asia and Europe. ASEF reports to a Board of Governors appointed by the 48 ASEM partners. Besides its Executive Office, ASEF is composed of the four operational departments summarised below, supported by the Finance & Administration Department. 1. Cultural Exchange (CE) provides young artists and cultural professionals in Asia and Europe with a unique environment for dialogue, evolving into positive artistic interventions, dynamic cultural networks and cultural policy development in and between Asia and Europe. 2. Intellectual Exchange (IE) contributes to policy debate and strategic thinking by providing a common platform for discussion on themes of current and future importance to Asia and Europe. 3. People-to-People Exchange (P2P) aims to facilitate the development and exchanges of educational (formal and non-formal) policies and practices in ASEM countries for the benefit of the next generation of leaders. 4. Public Affairs (PA) works with diverse constituencies, including the media, to multiply knowledge about Asia-Europe co-operation by furthering understanding and awareness about ASEF, ASEM and key issues in inter-regional relations.
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By nature different from other multilateral organisations, ASEF works with both civil society and ASEM partners. This unique attribute helps to generate ideas and solutions that would not normally emerge from purely inter-governmental or purely civil society processes. ASEF’s activities allow for the rigorous analysis of common issues by people with different perspectives, strengths and skill sets. This is diagrammatically represented below:
FIGURE 7.1 : Civil society and ASEM process
So far, ASEF has worked with over 500 partners and co-sponsors, including: parliaments, government agencies, think tanks, universities and other educational/research institutions, student and youth organisations, cultural and heritage promotion agencies, business organisations, NGOs, trade unions, media bodies and other relevant civil society organisations. ASEF’s projects advance ASEM priorities relevant to both regions through carefully designed programmes which take the form of conferences, lecture tours, workshops, seminars, web-based platforms and book, CD and DVD publications. These projects that have included more than 15,000 participants thus far cover 7 broad themes: Economy and Society; Environment & Sustainable Development; Public Health; Education &
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Academic Co-operation; Arts and Culture; Human Rights and Governance and; Inter-communal Dialogue. As mentioned, P2P focuses on formal and non-formal education. For this paper, the main focus will be on ASEF’s non-formal education programmes and projects in the field of international volunteering. However, ASEF also organised several formal education projects relevant to today’s conference, such as the 2nd ASEM Rectors’ Conference, held from 26-27 October 2010 in Seoul (Korea), in partnership with Korea University and the ASEAN University Network (AUN). From 5-7 June 2011, ASEF will organise the 2nd Asia-Europe Education Workshop in partnership with the University of Innsbruck on “Universities and Their Social Responsibilities”. One of ASEF’s non-formal education programmes is the Asia-Europe Co-operation in Voluntary Service (VolunAEt). In the past 10 years, ASEF has worked together with CCIVS to foster mutual understanding, cooperation and exchange between voluntary service organisations in Asia and Europe. Two projects are part of VolunAEt: the Asia-Europe Young Volunteers Exchange (AEYVE) and the Networking Conference for Asian and European Young Volunteers (NAEYV). The AEYVE, organised for the first time in 2001, focuses on capacity-building for IVS organisations. It includes young volunteers coming from international voluntary service organisations who gather for training on a specific topic such as intercultural learning, environment or public health. Afterwards, the participants are divided in groups to apply their acquired skills and knowledge in different communities. This field implementation includes an impact assessment for them to analyse their activities and to come up with recommendations during the final phase of the evaluation. In 2011, ASEF will organise the 10th edition of the AEYVE, which will be presented later on. To complement the capacity, ASEF and CCIVS established the Networking Conference for Asian and European Young Volunteers (NAEYV). The conference was designed specifically for heads (presidents, directors, board members, managers or co-ordinators) of IVS organisations and tackled new fields of concern such as advocacy, networking, partnership building, impact, recognition and voluntary service policies. The AEYVE and NAEYV have positioned ASEF as one of the main actors involved in the Asia-Europe voluntary service field. Recent VolunAEt projects were the 9th AEYVE (2010) and the 4th NAEYV (2011). The 9th AEYVE was hosted by Solidarités Jeunesses (SJ) Vietnam for the training and evaluation meeting. It aimed to measure the impact of voluntary service for personal development as well as for the organisations in this field. The 17 participants from 15 ASEM countries assessed the
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FIGURE 7.2: Asia-Europe Young Volunteers Exchange (AEYVE)
impact of IVS during the field implementation in 10 ASEM countries. The assessment focused on the following topics: 1. Key learning components for the participants, the local communities and the IVS organisations. 2. Challenges these different stakeholders are confronted with recommendations to tackle the challenges. These recommendations were channelled to the 4th Connecting Civil Societies (CCS) of Asia and Europe, coordinated by ASEF from 1-3 October 2010 in Brussels, preliminary to the 8th Asia-Europe Meeting Summit. Along the side-lines of the event, a workshop co-organised by CCIVS and the ASEM Education and Research Hub for Lifelong Learning (ASEM LLL Hub) was themed Creating Skills and Competences for Living and Working in the ASEM Area. The workshop targeted to bridge the gap between formal and non-formal education approaches and it was attended by ten European and eight Asian participants. Another recent project that took place was the 4th NAEYV, held from 6-11 February 2011 in Semarang, Indonesia. It was hosted by Indonesia International Work Camp (IIWC). The specific objectives of the conference were to: 1. Share the research outcomes of the 9th AEYVE on the impact of IVS in Asia and Europe. 2. Map the existing voluntary service schemes and the various legal frameworks on volunteering in Asia and Europe. 3. Identify stakeholders interested in the establishment and promotion of an Asian Voluntary Service (AVS) as a counterpart of European Voluntary Service (EVS), which is already established by the European Commission.
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4. Encourage cross-sectoral co-operation between different voluntary service stakeholders. 5. Develop spin-off initiatives in the field of voluntary service. The NAEYV gathered 35 participants from 21 different ASEM countries and consisted of two events: a 2-day strategic meeting with 18 young representatives from international voluntary service organisations, and a 2-day conference with 17 representatives from governments, universities, and other relevant stakeholders. The participants drafted recommendations for cooperation between IVS-organisations and Educational Institutions, Public Authorities, International NGO’s and International Public Institutions. This 10th Asia-Europe Young Volunteers Exchange (AEYVE) project, themed “Health on Stage: Creating Cultural Competencies for Public Health Dialogue” will be hosted by Field Services and inter-cultural Learning (FSL) India from 20 August to 1 October, The 10th AEYVE aims to enhance cultural competencies of young volunteers to foster dialogue on water-related health issues. In the first phase the participants will: 1. Be trained on using forum theatre as a tool to dialogue with local communities 2. Undergo intercultural learning and forum theatre workshops 3. Be informed on water-related diseases The second phase will be a field implementation where participants will use the theatre performances to dialogue with the local communities in
FIGURE 7.3: 9th AEYVE: Measuring voluntary service impact, from personal to community development, 10 August – 7 September 2010.
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Bangalore, Chennai and Mysore. In the third phase (evaluation meeting), participants will share their experiences, reflect on the impact for the local communities and draft recommendations on the use of forum theatre as the method to dialogue water-related issues. These findings and the training materials will be published in 2012.
FIGURE 7.4: 4th NAEYV: From Co-operation to Recognition: Creating Long-term Strategies, 6 – 11 February 2011, Semarang, Indonesia.
Notes 1
2
3
ASEM now brings together 46 member states (Australia, Austria, Brynei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Cambodia, China, Cyprus, Czzech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Laos, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mongolia, Myanmar, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, United Kingdom, Vietnam) plus the European Commission and the ASEAN Secretariat (more info: www.aseminfoboard.org) Bulgaria, Cambodia, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Myanmar, Poland, The Philippines, Sweden, Vietnam. Belgium, Cambodia, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Thailand, The Philippines, Vietnam.
Chapter 8
Sparetime University as an Approach to Enhance Youth and Community Engagement & Service Across ASEAN and Asia Michael H. Glantz Time Magazine recently posed two questions about the future of education: What are the educational needs of students in the 21st century? How do we ‘build’ a student for this century? The urgent educational needs in this century include the following: empowering youth; linking all living generations; using social networking and all types of conventional media; enhancing access to and usability of knowledge; sharing knowledge across geographic regions, generations and genders; and empowering the general public by both distilling university-level knowledge for greater general understanding and re-legitimizing ‘ordinary knowledge’ as an important complement to those university-level understandings. As this list suggests, traditional education approaches of children going to a building called a school and learning from a person called a teacher who stood at the front of the room while children called students sat passively ‘learning’ through the better part of the day will not adequately meet the socio-economic needs and information demands of the new century. Educators must therefore find new ways to inspire both children and adults to seek and acquire new knowledge throughout their lifetimes.
Virtual Classroom and SpareTime University Objectives In this chapter, a new and complementary approach to education is proposed that can bring a virtual classroom to participants through a format that referred to as SpareTime University (STU). SpareTime University is a way to educate students, to identify and interact with community mentors, to inform academics of ‘teachable contemporary moments’ drawn from around the globe, to foster interaction and to transfer knowledge. The STU format would enable such an education platform to be built inexpensively
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between universities and local communities throughout Asia. SpareTime University is for all—from “K to Gray”, that is, from kindergarten to older people whether in school, university or for those who for whatever reason never attended ‘school’ as well as for educators and government agencies. It provides an accessible inexpensive pathway to educate and empower civil society through the use of a wide range of inexpensive portable technological (audio and video) devices. The general objectives of STU are to share new as well as to enhance existing usable knowledge for civil society. Civil society is important because the people who almost always are most in need of information necessary to surmount the challenges and uncertainties of their everyday lives, are often the last people to become aware of such information. Furthermore, civil society is also the source of all future socio-economic and political decision makers. Specific STU objectives include: 1. Encouraging all members of civil society to share in the nation’s education and training systems. 2. Providing an inexpensive pathway to accessibly educate and empower civil society, enabling them to do so in their “spare time” using a range of existing as well as new but truly inexpensive technologies (for example, MP3 and MP4 players). 3. Fostering the sharing of knowledge about water, climate and weather problems and solution - among other topics. 4. Enabling people who cannot afford the costs or the time to attend traditional school settings to continue to learn. 5. Inspiring and enriching civil society by bringing the virtual classroom to the participants through the STU platform. Civil society comprises the entire spectrum of humanity— the marginalized, the rich, government and industry bureaucrats, educators, the workforce, and political leaders. The wide range of cheap technologies encompasses new as well as older electronic devices. The broad range of people and electronics is essential to the STU concept. For example, as consumers in the most economically developed classes of civil society upgrade their mobile phones and electronic devices such as their MP3 or MP4 players, they often fail to recycle their older, still functioning devices even though there are many others who could still use them. Such a tendency to upgrade and discard functioning devices, however, provides a possible inroad for the billions in the world who lack information and access to information.
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‘Satisfice’ as an Inroad to STU ‘Satisfice’ is an idea from Economics that is formed by merging two concepts, ‘satisfy’ and ‘sacrifice.’ Many people willingly choose not to earn as much money as they could, giving up that singular goal in order to pursue other satisfying, often more holistic lifestyle objectives. In this way, satisficing provides an individual, company or government an alternative to maximizing their assets. This understanding of satisfaction is a key aspect of the notion of sustainability. It is also, metaphorically speaking, an inroad for admissions to STU. The concept of ‘satisfice’ should be introduced to civil society as a ‘good enough’ guide to consumerism in the 21st century. Clearly, technological inventions can change individual as well as societal behaviour; however, concepts can also change behaviour and can be viewed as ‘social inventions.’ SpareTime University synergizes the use of such discarded and inexpensive electronic devices and the concept of social inventions. Today, for example, people can buy MP3 listening devices that will store 4,000 minutes of information for only a few dollars (US). Small video players cost only a few dollars more while recycled and functioning devices would cost much less. Such devices can be pre-loaded with short, brief lectures to be given away to share ‘knowledge’ with targeted groups. Such knowledge need not be narrowly defined as ‘school knowledge,’ however, as a scene from the popular film “Slumdog Millionaire,” based on Indian author Vikas Swarup‘s novel Q & A, illustrates in providing an instructive lesson on the notion of ‘Ordinary Knowledge.’ When the young, unschooled protagonist of the film was asked by his lawyer how he could have answered 12 difficult questions on an Indian television quiz show to win a million dollars, the unschooled boy replied, “They happened to ask me the 12 things I know.” This makes people become more aware of the value of information people ‘just know’ and not only value those concepts they learn in school. Though many people may not finish school, they do possess considerable useful knowledge; whatever the source the more a person knows the better able that person will be at surmounting the challenges of living in the modern world—and of helping others to similarly surmount those challenges of an increasingly complex world. Information is power; sharing information is empowering. Relevant content for SpareTime University would be developed in national education and training centres for dissemination to targeted audiences in
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any desired language. It would be based not only on what those centres believe is relevant to the targeted audience but also on what the audience has suggested is information they could use, making STU a participatory and collaborative platform. Participants in STU would have access to information that is taught in a high school, university or training centres as well as acquire useful knowledge. STU can be developed as a certificate program or could be just for information sharing to those who do not need a certificate. The wider use of existing, even older cheap technologies can enable STU participants to listen when they want, use it when they want and where they want in their ‘spare time’. The following is a list of potential practical STU topical courses: 1. Agriculture (irrigation, drainage, livestock, shifting boundaries) 2. Water (quality, quantity, health aspects, upstream-downstream links) 3. Energy (solar, hydro, wind, fossil fuels, comparative advantages) 4. Environment (glacial melt, soil salinization, deforestation, dust storms, seasonality changes) 5. Climate (change, extremes, hydrology, CO2 emissions) 6. Food (seasonal changes, storage techniques) 7. Public Health (nutrition, sanitation, infectious disease outbreaks) 8. Public safety (floods, drought, epidemics) 9. Tenure rights (national laws, organizations to help, mapping techniques) 10. Ecological Economics (externalities, Precautionary Principle, Maximin Rule) To foster an understanding of climate, for instance, the notion of Climate Affairs, including climate-society-environment interactions and previous work on Climate Affairs in Southeast Asia, could be explored. Through the STU platform, knowledge on climate change, seasonality, and hazards could be shared in a multidisciplinary context, such as academic ‘disciplines without borders’. For Climate Affairs, therefore, STU courses could: 1. Enhance interest in how climate and water variability, change and extremes influence daily life in Southeast Asia—locally, nationally, and regionally. 2. Explore how to cope with climate change, shifts in seasonality and environmental hazards. 3. Encourage consideration of developing university-level multidisciplinary Climate Affairs activities and developing a regional Climate Affairs network.
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4. Develop ongoing knowledge sharing ‘collaboratories’ among local peoples with empirical experiences of changes and those who are studying such change more theoretically at the university level, creating inter-disciplinary, inter-cultural links that value all relevant forms of knowledge and experience. Science of the 21st century is different than that of preceding times; in fact, the dominant role for the scientific community has changed. Before the 1970s, science was “for the sake of Science,” while in the 1970s, science became an activity done “for the People.” But after the year 2000, science has become an activity done “with the People.” In reality, all three roles of science are needed for smooth functioning. Indeed, a key aspect of climatesociety-environment interactions today is ethics and equity-every scientific decision about the environment has the potential to create disparities among people in the world. One must protect those who might be adversely affected by decisions made through the scientific method. For example, many of Asia’s regional hydro-meteorological hazards are known and include tropical storms, droughts, floods, haze, disease outbreaks, tsunamis and global warming, but such knowledge is often inequitably disseminated across communities. Those who are poor or marginalized are often unaware and are therefore more harshly affected by such hazards, pointing to the inequity in global communications. SpareTime University is here proposed to bridge this gap in communications, providing usable, inexpensive, ondemand, timely, user-friendly knowledge related to environmental change and other topics to address such breakdowns. It provides a way to learn about and cope with the socioeconomic problems in a world of constant change.
Reference Spare Time University at http://sparetimeuniversity.com/
Part 4
Case Studies of Knowledge Sharing to Enrich University- Community Engagement Initiatives in ASEAN and Beyond There are various types of capital ranging from human, social to creative capital, amongst others. Social capital appears to be very attractive as it refers to connections among individuals – social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them and hence related to “civic virtue” (Putnam 2000, cited in Smith 2001; 2007). According to Smith (2001; 2007), interaction enables people to build communities and commit themselves to each other, knitting the social fabric which then bring great benefits to people. In that context then, what type of capital would higher education deliver? According to Watson et al. (2011:15), “At its heart, the university is a reservoir of intellectual capital: its most fundamental purpose is about the creation, testing and application of knowledge.” Taking that stance, higher education institutions cannot afford to operate in a vacuum, academics need to interact with communities and help promote their well-being through research, teaching and service. USR may also be used as a strategy for reputation building or maintenance of relations with the public and other stakeholders. While universities, particularly research universities, exist to develop knowledge, skills and prepare students for active citizenship, they are in a unique and strategic position to engage in public service. The following case studies illustrate the initiatives taken by a number of universities to work in and with the community.
References Smith, M. K. 2001, 2007. ‘Robert Putnam’. The Encyclopaedia of Informal Education. Retrieved from http://www.infed.org/thinkers/putnam.htm. (accessed January 27, 2012). Watson, David, Robert Hollister, Susan Stroud, & Elizabeth Babcock. 2011.The Engaged University: International Perspectives on Civil Engagement. New York: Routledge.
Chapter 9
Green Community Services: Bringing Solar Energy Innovation to the Public by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Kamaruzzaman Sopian Bringing solar energy to rural communities would help enhance their quality of life, make them more financially viable and also change the way we use energy. How do we bring solar energy to the community in Malaysia? Established in 2005, the Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI) at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) is the national centre of excellence for solar energy. It was formed to address the immediate issue of fossil fuels consumption that causing environmental pollution and global warming. Renewable energy (RE) such as solar has the potential to replace fossil fuel (Baharuddin et al 2008). To support this effort, SERI undertakes research and development to develop RE technology and expertise in this challenging and exciting field. This chapter highlights the role of Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI) at UKM in implementing the green community services or projects by using RE technology especially solar energy in order to enhance the economic development of the community area. This chapter will also emphasize the contribution of the three case studies towards the development of communities and also the potential of the technology based on the local manufacturing.
Solar Energy for Community Engagement - PV as Cottage Industry (PVCottageTM) The ability and infrastructure to generate, distribute, and effectively consume electricity determine a society’s educational, social, and economic well-being. For example, near universal access to electricity, through transmission grids connected to large scale power plants, has been largely responsible for economic prosperity of the industrialized world. This centralized electricity distribution model is increasingly replaced by small
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scale decentralized micro-grids connected to an array of distributed energy generators. Rapid maturation of reliable, cost-effective renewable energy generation technologies has become the driving force behind this paradigm shift. This transition, from hundreds of miles of utility-scale transmission grids to a profusion of distributed micro-grids, is aided by advances in smart electronics and renewable energy generation resources. In this world vision, energy would be generated at homes and neighbourhoods with environment-friendly techniques. For most of the under-developed world, this paradigm shift offers unique opportunity to achieve progress without wasting precious resources in macro-grid development (Kamaruzzaman 2011). Crystalline silicon photovoltaic technology will play a leading role in this transition to small-scale distributed networks. Silicon forms almost 26 % of the Earth’s crust, it is uniformly distributed across the globe, and is free of any resource-depletion related economic effects (Baharuddin et al. 2008). Silicon is also the most dominant component of integratedcircuit (IC) electronics, which means that the IC-based infrastructure will continue to be freely available for the PV industry. Malaysia has been blessed both with sunlight and silicon. On paper, Malaysia has a robust PV technology sector along the entire supply value chain. The reality is, however, entirely different. PV technology is dominated by multi-national companies focused on exploitation of cheap labour and natural resources; almost all finished products are exported. Thus, it is essential to produce the high technology silicon PV module for local applications with low manufacturing cost. Silicon PV technology is particularly desirable when considering the following factors: i) a solar cell is just a large area diode, ii) manufacturing model based on cottage industry approach, and iii) reduction in energy conversion cost ($/W). Considering the above factor, SERI at UKM in collaboration with Solartif Sdn. Bhd have developed a PV cottage-industry model for high quality photovoltaic panel production. A cottage-industry based business model aimed at manufacturing 110 W PV modules with an estimated capacity of 1 MW/year has been set up as a pilot plant in Terengganu, Malaysia [3]. The project objective was to reduce the PV cost manufacturing by tailoring the technology to the socio-economic culture of the society. Almost all the equipment and manufacturing processes were developed with process and performance yields comparable to any automated operation. The simplified schematic diagram of the PV cottage-industry processes is illustrated in Figure 9.1. In this project, local people are trained to make the panels and they learn after initially breaking a number of the panels in the first two
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months. The processing methods are simple and use local products and equipment. The local people are trained to do all steps in the production process and one of the good outcomes is that they have successful to obtain a TUV Certificate for one of the PV product which is enable them to sell the product worldwide. The TUV Certificate is a product certification SOLAR CELL TABBING
SOLAR CELL STRINGING
VISUAL TESTING FOR CRACKS
PANEL FRAMING FIGURE 9.1:
PANEL LAMINATION
ONE-SUN LIGHT-CURRENT-VOLTAGE MEASUMENTS
ELECTRICAL CIRCUIT COMPLETION
ELECTRICAL TESTING WITH LIGHT SO URCE
PACKAGING SHIPPING
Simplified schematic diagram for manufacturing of solar panels
or product qualification of certain product that has passed performance tests and quality assurance tests or qualification requirement stipulated in contracts, regulations or specifications. In this certification process, 20 samples of product are required to send to the certified body for testing the performance before issuing the certificate. To compare with the conventional fully automatic process for PV panel production which is required high capital cost and only produced single product module, this PV cottage-industry based business model has more benefits in terms of low capital cost, multiple and customized product, create job opportunities for local people, enhance rural local industry and reduce the PV cost manufacturing. This technique was also registered under PV Cottage Trademark in 2009 (PV Cottage 2009).
Solar Drying of Agricultural and Marine Products Drying is one of the methods to preserve food. The second application is the solar drying for agriculture and marine products. The most economical and conventional method of drying these products are open sun drying.
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However, this method causes low quality of dried products due to contamination from the environment, insect infestation and larva attack. Consequently, products such as fish usually are applied with insecticide, which is threatening the environment and human health. On the other hand, using a solar drying system that dries the products in a closed chamber not only can avoid the low quality problems but also protect the drying products from getting wet in the rain. Furthermore, due to the system simplicity, the solar dryer can be constructed locally and does not require any power and energy from electrical grids or fossil fuels; it is relatively cheaper than a diesel powered dryer. With the collaboration between SERI, the Sabah Fishermen Association and Standard Institute Malaysia (SIRIM), a patented solar drying system for seaweed has been successfully installed at Semporna, Sabah (Figure 9.2) (Patent Pending PI 2007). According to the experience of the seaweed producer, the drying duration by open sun drying can be shorter from approximately four to five days (if there is no rain) to 1.5 days by solar dryer. Moreover, there are two fishing communities that dry marine products using solar dryers, for instance, joint efforts between SERI and Islamic Youth Club at Kuala Terengganu (Figure 9.3), and between CIMB at Pontian, Johor. For clear days, the solar drying process will take about a day for 30 kg to 45 kg of dried fish compared to the conventional method that needs about three days of drying. Furthermore, the hygienically dried products have better appearance in terms of cleanliness and colour, and also contain higher nutrients. In return for shorter drying duration and better quality of products, higher income will be generated.
FIGURE 9.2: Solar drying system at Semporna, Sabah
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FIGURE 9.3: Solar drying tunnel at Kuala Terengganu
PICO Hydro project Indigenous communities in rural Malaysia, often lack any form of power generation. This provides them with little opportunity to undertake practical and income-generating activities after nightfall. Hydropower is also known as pico-hydro – the smallest scale of the hydropower system. The kinetic power of moving water is transformed into electrical power by a turbine and generator. This gives the community valuable light in the evening and the ability to explore new technological and income generating avenues (Kamaruzzaman et al. 2009). Pico-hydro is hydropower with a maximum electrical output of 5 kilowatts (kW), sufficient to power light bulbs, radios, televisions, refrigerators and food processors and other income generating activities such processing of agricultural produce. Recent innovations in pico-hydro technology have made it an economic and versatile source of power even in some of the world’s most resource-poor and inaccessible places. Standard AC electricity can be produced and distributed throughout a village to power electrical appliances, or it can charge large batteries for households. Initially, SERI has set-up a test study for the pico hydro unit at the UKM campus (Patent pending PI 2007). A natural pond with continuous water flow is used as the source for water intake. Local weather data are used in consideration of turbine selection. The pico hydro system consists of a cross-flow turbine, gear system, alternator, charge controller and a set of battery storage. The turbine in this research project was fabricated locally and the maintenance and repair can be done by the local people, meaning the actual total cost is relatively low. Imported turbine is subjected to taxes, cost of maintenance and nonexistence technology transfer. Based on the
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research output, SERI in collaboration with Global Peace Mission with the help of other donors has set-up a centralised processing centre using power from a pico hydro shene. In this project, a 5 kW pico hydro scheme was installed at small stream at Kampung Tuel, Post Hendrop, Gua Musang, Kelantan (Figure 9.4) (Patent pending PI 2011). The community has three villages and each village has about thirty houses with a total population of 400. The objective of this pico-hydro project was to stimulate economic activities among families, such processing of agricultural produce and perhaps crafts from the jungle. The agricultural activities are planting bananas, pineapple and various types of vegetables. A central processing centre for these agricultural produce was constructed on site and the power was taken from the pico hydro scheme. Previously, there was no electricity in the village and transportation was a problem and no agricultural produce could be transported to the nearby town. With this new centralised scheme processing, the products can be stored and later transported to the nearby town. Hence, this project has increased the productivity, quality of food as well as income for the villagers. This is an environmentally friendly and energy saving approach for electricity production for income generation and to improve the social economic standing of rural communities (Masjiri et al. 2011).
FIGURE 9.4: system (right).
Small dam to control the water flowfor pico hydro (left) and pico hydro turbine
Pico-hydro provides an excellent opportunity for rural and marginalised communities that have little or no access to electricity. Yet, if care is not taken in establishing and maintaining the system, it can become a costly venture. If the skills are not made available to maintain the turbines, they can easily break, leaving the community with the financial burden of buying a new turbine or paying for the existing one to be fixed by outsiders.
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A well-established and maintained system, on the other hand, can provide a reliable source of electricity for the community. Hence, the maintenance of the pico hydro system is managed by the villagers themselves through training and education.
Conclusion The SERI’s community sharing projects has improved the quality of life of the villagers, farmers and fishermen in terms of generating more income and gaining new knowledge through the advanced technologies. In addition, sharing the renewable energy innovations with communities is one of the attempts to promote the technology to the public. It is important to showcase the applications potential and build public confidence in the reliability of such green technology innovations. This would help to increase the market demand of the technologies and eventually decrease the installation cost, making the technologies affordable for all levels of income groups. Furthermore, the market demand will also create business opportunities in the areas of solar panels, solar thermal collectors, industrial process heat, consultancy services and other green technology industries. These in turn also create job opportunities, reduce unemployment and help the economic growth of the country.
References Baharuddin Ali, Kamaruzzaman Sopian, Chan Hoy Yen, Sohif Mat, Azami Zaharim. 2008. Key Success Factors In Implementing Renewable Energy Programme in Malaysia. WSEAS Transactions on Environment and Development 4(12):11411150. J. A. Razak, Y. Ali, M. A. Alghoul, Mohammad Said Zainol, Azami Zaharim, K. Sopian. 2010. Application of crossflow turbine in off-grid pico hydro renewable energy system. In Processes Proceedings of the AMERICAN CONFERENCE on APPLIED MATHEMATICS (AMERICAN-MATH ‘10), Harvard University, Cambridge, USA, January 27-29, 2010: 519 -525. Kamaruzzaman Sopian, Baharuddin Ali, Nilofar Asim. 2011 Strategies for renewable energy applications in the organization of Islamic conference (OIC) countries. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews Volume 15, Issue 9: 4706-4725. Kamaruzzaman Sopian, Abdul Latif Ibrahim, Nilofar Asim, Nowshad Amin, Saleem H. Zaidi. 2008. Can a High-Tech Silicon Photovoltaic (PV) be a cottage industry? European Journal of Scientific Research 24(2):263-269. Kamaruzzaman Sopian, Mohd Yusof Sulaiman, Mohd Yusof Othman, Sohif Mat, Muhamad Yahya, Mohamad A. Alghoul, Baharudin Ali, Lim Chin Haw, Mohd
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Hafidz Ruslan, Azami Zaharim. Advances in solar assisted drying systems for agricultural produce. In Proceedings of the 4th IASME / WSEAS International Conference on ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT (EE’09) Cambridge, UK February 24-26: 393 – 402. Kamaruzzaman Sopian & Juhari Ab. Razak. 2009. Pico Hydro: Clean power from small streams. In Proceedings of the 3rd WSEAS International Conference on RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES (RES ‘09), University of La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands Spain, July 1-3: 414 – 420. Kamaruzzaman Sopian, Juhari Ab. Razak, Zulkifli Mohd Nopiah, Yusoff Ali. 2008. Optimal operational strategies for pico hydro wind photovoltaic diesel hybrid energy system using genetic algorithms. ISESCO Science and Technology Vision 4(5):55-59. Masjuri Musa@Othman, Juhari Ab. Razak, Md Razali Ayob, Mohd Afzanizam Rosli, Safarudin Gazali Herawan, Kamaruzzaman Sopian. 2011. Development of model system for cost-effective pico-hydro turbine. In 3rd International Symposium & Exhibition in Sustainable Energy & Environment, 1-3 June 2011, Melaka: 17 – 21. M.Y.H. Othman, K. Sopian , B. Yatim , W.R.W. Daud. 2006. Development of advanced solar assisted drying systems. Renewable Energy 31: 703–709. Patent Pending PI2007 1616 V-Groove solar air heater. Patent Pending PI2011 Pico Hydro Turbine. PV Cottage TM Class 7 (17 July 2009) Application No. 0901188.
Chapter 10
Community Engagement through a Unique Sporting Partnership at La Trobe University Jacqui Martin La Trobe has approximately 32,000 students and 3,000 staff, and is world renowned for its practical and applied research in a number of areas especially health sciences, humanities and bio technology. Apart from the main campus (Bundoora) in Melbourne, there are four other campuses in regional cities across Victoria. The Marketing and Engagement Division is one of the biggest administrative divisions at La Trobe University with about 85 staff and a budget of about AUD 15 million dollars, a portion of which is dedicated to university management of engagement. The university is a Board Member of the Australian Universities Community Engagement Alliance2. This presentation is based on a case study of La Trobe University’s partnership with the Melbourne Heart football club3, a soccer club in Australia. In 2009, the Melbourne Heart football club, the newest team to compete in the elite A-league National Football Competition in Australia, was looking for a home base. A new club, it needed training facilities and services for its staff and players. It also needed a geographical location from which it could build a community fan base. The club had been communicating with local government councils but had not considered what the university could provide them in terms of their needs. After three months of long complex negotiations and agreements signed, the Melbourne Heart Organisation made the Bundoora campus its base. It was not an easy partnership at the beginning. Melbourne Heart is a very small start-up organisation; it is nimble and able to move quickly while La Trobe is a large and complex university. It took a little while for the two organisations to learn how to work together. Initially, there was inadequate internal university support as a number of the stakeholders within the university thought that having a football club, which was not the university’s core business, located on the campus might not bring benefits. It took a while to bring everyone within the university on board and turn around the negative feelings. One of the
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key factors that helped was that the Melbourne Heart club held values very close to that of the university. It is about community, authenticity, family, access and opportunities that match with the university’s values. As a multicultural campus with students from all over the world and soccer a favourite, the university was interested in partnering with the football club; particularly with government policy changes in Australia setting universities some very ambitious targets. One of these targets was to increase the number of students from low socio-economic backgrounds attending university. Currently, 17.5% of La Trobe’s student populace comes from low socio-economic backgrounds. The university aimed to increase the figure to over 20% but attending university is not a priority for people in the surrounding geographical area. La Trobe University felt that by partnering with a sporting organization it might be able to provide a hook, a point of interest to break down some of the barriers with the community and help the university achieve its socio-economic and indigenous student targets.The relationship was built around a number of pillars. Apart from the commercial, license, and lease agreements there were also some contra arrangements, branding benefit, advertising, corporate hospitality and media interests. The university’s researchers are working closely with the football club on a number of projects. For example, at the health sciences faculty, the university has a gait testing laboratory4 where electrodes are placed on the body and watch people move, run, catch, and jump. Through the programme, the elite athletes of the club are able to use the gait testing programme which in turn adds a new dimension to the university’s research. The university’s centre for sports and social impact5 is another example. They are conducting an extensive piece of research on how to build a fan base from scratch that will be applicable across a number of sporting clubs in Australia, not just football. The second pillar that holds interesting potential for the university is in the teaching and learning area. Through this partnership, a number of students have been given the opportunity to work closely with the Melbourne Heart players and its administration. This includes student placements, internships, volunteering opportunities across areas such as sports journalism, physiotherapy, sports administration, marketing, podiatry, coaching, and business. La Trobe University have only now started to tap into the great relationship that allows these learning opportunities to grow. Another pillar having an impact is the engagement with the university’s local geographical community. A total of 2,500 people came to the Melbourne Heart Family Day held on the campus; these were people that
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would not go normally near a university or might have thought the university unapproachable. This provided the university with a great opportunity to show that it played soccer. Additional community engagement has been achieved through soccer clinics conducted by Melbourne Heart in schools around regional Victoria and on some visits are accompanied by staff members of the university to disseminate information about the university and provide co-branded giveaways. While the students are excited and interested in a soccer or football club visiting them, La Trobe University are alongside them saying learning is important in this world. Over time, the university hopes that this will break down some of their perceived barriers. This year Melbourne Heart will also be introducing Youth and Women teams which will open more opportunities. This area of co-operation sets a very exciting time for the future with a three way bid between the university, the football club and the local government to the federal government for funding to provide sporting and administrative facilities at the university. The local government is involved as well because these will be shared facilities for the community, the university and the football club. There are a large number of sporting clubs attached to the university. About 70% of the membership of those clubs is from the community, either alumni or people who live locally. By developing facilities on campus, the local geographical community are able to directly benefit from them. With this in mind, the university hopes to receive more funding by having a sporting team to bid with them. In conclusion, participating in sports, fitness and leading healthy lifestyles are critical for happy and healthy communities and education is critical for communities to survive. A partnership between a football club and a university brings together the two.
FIGURE 10.1 :
Club playing football on campus to level the learning field
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References La Trobe University at http://www.latrobe.edu.au/about http://www.aucea.org.au/ http://www.latrobe.edu.au/partnerships/partnerships/melbourne-heart http://www.latrobe.edu.au/mrc/gaitlab.html http://www.latrobe.edu.au/cssi
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Chapter 11
Science and Technology for the Community: Universitas Indonesia’s Social Responsibility Bagus Aryo Universitas Indonesia (UI) was founded in 1849, starting as a Javanese Medical School, and in recent times has produced more than 400,000 alumni. UI has two campuses; in central Jakarta (Salemba) and in Depok (West Java). As with a number of other universities, it is committed to teaching, research and community services (Tri Dharma Perguruan Tinggi) as well as encouraging its academic staff to disseminate new knowledge and findings by publishing in international academic research publications. Since 2000, it has become autonomous although it is a public university. The government has reduced funding to 30% for the university’s operational costs while the rest needs to be generated on its own. There are about 11 such autonomous universities in Indonesia. Universitas Indonesia runs a dedicated Community Services Program and defines community service as an application of science and technology in order to improve the quality of life, knowledge and skills of the community or society. This can be in the form of research based community services to bridge the gap between community services and academic journal publications. Community service at UI must be based on research or applied research while applying technology. It need not be complicated or high level technology, but it must address the needs of the community. We focus on the needs of the communities, not their wants and conduct a thorough needs assessment before undertaking a project or programme. One of our student-based community service programme is called Kuliah Kerja Nyata. Under this programme, students are divided into groups of 30 or less, and are sent to remote areas in Indonesia for a month. This includes the areas of Kalimantan, Papua or remote islands of the Pacific to help local communities there while earning extra credit hours. Two lecturers are assigned to supervise them with the main objective of helping the community and provide solutions, where possible. The lecturers undergo training to be equipped with the knowledge and skills to become
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supervisors in this community service programme. The Indonesian army and navy assist in transporting the students to the remote areas. Currently, the university has only 200 students in this programme as its costs are high. There are four types of community service programmes at UI namely: 1. Ipteks bagi Masyarakat (IbM) or science and technology for Community/Society for general community services but with a clear mission; 2. Ipteks bagi Kewirausahaan (IbK) or science and technology for Entrepreneurship to develop or train new entrepreneurs to enhance the quality of management; 3. Ipteks bagi Wilayah (IbW;) or science and technology for supporting local autonomy as every district must become autonomous and selfsupporting as far as possible; and 4. Ipteks bagi Inovasi dan Kreativitas Kampus (IbIKK) or science and technology for supporting innovation and creativity on campus and developing partnerships between the university and industry to provide student internship programmes. The Ipteks bagi Inovasi dan Kreativitas Kampus (IbIKK) in particular, aims to develop an entrepreneurship culture on campus for lecturers and students. The implementation of IbIKK is to develop access and networking to produce and market innovation (or products). IbIKK oversees the establishment of a business unit or workshop but always in partnerships with an industry and managed by the lecturers themselves. Through IbIKK, students are able to participate in projects to gain knowledge, skills, build their capacity as well as self-esteem. In summary, community services at UI is an important element within the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for all academicians, without which, one would not be able to advance in their career. UI has many projects under its community service programme that are good models which could be exemplified by other universities.
First Project: Bridging the University and Community through Technology This project focuses on the remote and poor area of Rotok Hamlet in the Manggarai District of Nusa Tenggara Timur. Led by sociologist, Professor Robert Lawang, the team worked on providing electricity for the community.
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Deforestation was an issue while working to provide power and electricity for the community, as is the case in many other parts of South East Asia. Professor Lawang conducted a social intervention action research with a focus on social forestry, which saw the successful installation of micro or pico hydroelectricity that subsequently improved the quality of life for the community. The premise was that water generates electricity, while the forest provided water, thus the forest should be guarded to be able to supply power to the community. Professor Lawang and his team included engineers who surveyed the area and worked on the best ways to install electricity in the hamlet. The pico hydro system the team worked on successfully installed electricity to 85 homes in the local community. Consultation was also done involving all parties involved to avoid due conflict. After the community received electricity supply for the first time, the villagers understood the importance of reforestation for the continued supply of electricity. The villagers also took important steps of cultivating new plants on the hills to ensure continued water supply that is necessary for generating electricity. This project is especially noted for its success in defining the problem, finding solutions, and implementing them to help uplift a community.
Second Project: Flat base boat for Fisherman at Balongan, West Java This second project demonstrates a partnership between the university, fishermen of a local community and the industry, who in this case is a large plastic manufacturer called PT Polytama Propindo. The project was aimed at building a prototype flat base boat for fishermen at Balongan, West Java. Led by Hadi Tresno Wibowo, the team looked for a boat that was durable, easy to maintain while being strong enough to withstand waves and tides. While the university conceptualised the prototype in consultation with the fishermen, Polytama provided the funding for the workshops. This case reflects the successful engagement between community, university and industry. The boat making project is currently in its final stages.
Third Project: Star Fruit Project at Depok City This project illustrates how the farmers in the Depok district are assisted to develop further the star fruit industry by a group of researchers/lecturers of UI. This is done through the use of organic fertiliser from traditional
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market wastes. The research team also identified the best colours to be used as plastic covers that could increase the level of vitamin C in the fruit, while improving the physical colour. New techniques were also identified that could decrease or increase the level of water and glucose in the star fruit. The team also assisted the farmers in the community to add value to the various star fruit products. With a wide range of star fruit types that varies in terms of colour, vitamin C levels and water and glucose content, farmers are able to cater to the needs and demands of consumers while increasing their profits. The cases above reflect UI’s commitment of advancing communities through research based community service.
References DRPM UI. 2011. Buku Panduan Hibah Pengmas. Depok: Universitas Indonesia Universitas Indonesia. 2011. SOP Pendidikan Karakter Bidang Kemahasiswaan. Depok: Universitas Indonesia Lawang, R. 2008. Pengembangan Model Hutan Masyarakat Melalui Pendekatan Saling Menunjang. Antara Air Untuk Pengadaan Listrik Mikro Hidro Dan Hutan Desa Untuk Konservasi Air Di Dusun Rotok – Desa Hilihintir - Kecamatan Satar Mese-Kabupaten Manggarai – Flores Barat NTT. Depok: Universitas Indonesia. Tim Peneliti Belimbing. 2010. Pengabdian Masyarakat Berbasis Penelitian: Budidaya Belimbing di Depok. Depok: Universitas Indonesia Wibowo, H.T. 2011. Pengembangan Perahu Flat Base untuk Nelayan di Balongan. Depok: Universitas Indonesia
Chapter 12
Moving Forward: Voices Of The Delegates and Planning for Greater USR&S In ASEAN and Beyond Saran Kaur Gill In this concluding section on “Moving Forward�, the focus will be on how the secretariat of the Asia-Talloires Network of Industry and community engaged universities (ATNEU) and the ASEAN University Thematic Network of University Social Responsibility & Sustainability (AUN USR&S) needs to work to ensure that the knowledge, skills, expertise and resources of its members are tapped on and shared to create greater impact at a much faster pace of community engagement across the region. A network has only got value in as much as it is able to offer knowledge, techniques and competencies that enhance the capacity of its members to forge forward and contribute to the area of community engagement with external stakeholders in a meaningful, productive and sustainable manner to improve the quality of life of communities across the region. As it does this, it also develops the ASEAN/Asian identity of its peoples through the building of meaningful and relevant people-to-people relationships. At the initial stage, it is challenging setting up a network and convincing other institutions of higher learning to come on board as members. However what is even more challenging is working at ensuring that there is momentum in the value of the creation of the network and to continually work out specific, concrete and relevant initiatives that can be applied to ensure that all members develop, grow and continuously learn to enhance the field of community engagement and thus, gain from belonging to the network. Therefore, for now, one of the main aims of this conference held in May 2011 was to bring on board the voices of the conference delegates to help us plan and move forward the network. This would be consolidated into the requirements needed to move forward the area of community engagement across the multi-sector partnership of higher education,
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government agencies, NGOs, foundations and industries in ASEAN and beyond. The following areas for action are presented based on the presentations, the voices of the delegates and discussions at the second ASEAN University Network Regional Forum on University Social Responsibility and Sustainability.
Areas for Action The overarching considerations for action drawn at the forum were to: 1. Work toward defining common frames of reference for community engagement for related terms such as civic / community engagement, outreach, service-learning, needs analysis/asset-based analysis. This is to ensure a common frame of understanding of the use of these terms in the field. 2. Identify concrete projects with themes as plans for action across universities in ASEAN and beyond. Professor Robert Bringle, Director at the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Centre for Service and Learning said that: These projects would encompass multifaceted partnerships across the three areas of teaching, research and service so that there is more support from all stakeholders.
This would be through working in groups from different agencies or organisations whether in Higher Education, NGOs, Industry or government. Professor Dato’ Saran Kaur Gill, who is also Executive Director of AsiaEngage noted, for instance, under the broad area of environment the specific theme could be climate change and how the change would impact the community. Another possibility would be in the area of post-disaster recovery relief – to rebuild communities after earthquakes, tsunamis, and floods.
3. Formalise collaborations across different associations with common interests such as: a. Networks like ATNEU, AUN, Talloires Network, Ma’an Alliance and AUCEA to collaborate in knowledge sharing, activities and projects.
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b. Youth and volunteerism organisations, for example, CCIVS, ASEF, and Global Latitude Volunteering. c. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with specific orientation for instance, Malaysian Nature Society and MERCY Malaysia to conceptualise projects and co-operate in implementing them. For documents to formalise the above, the scope and mode of cooperation would have to be identified, delineated and clear roles and responsibilities worked out for meaningful, productive and sustainable collaboration between the relevant associations and bodies concerned. 4. Set up a task force comprising members from the AUN member universities as a starting point. One of the main responsibilities of the task force would be to develop a blueprint that contributes to the Strategic Roadmap for Productive & Sustainable University-IndustryCommunity Engagement across ASEAN and beyond. This strategic roadmap, when applied would help universities become Engaged Universities, in which community and industry engagement could be embedded in research, education and service, the core missions of the university. 5. Invite decision-makers such as leaders of universities, government agencies, NGO and industry leaders to special discussions at future forums to undertake agreements that take into consideration mutual benefit. Action has been taken on the above excellent suggestions from conference delegates. Please see list of Members of the Task Force in the Appendix Section of this publication. The strategic roadmap is being worked on as resolutions that will be discussed and adopted by University, NGOs, Industry and Foundation leaders at a meeting on the 8th May 2012 which coincides with the conference from the 7th-9th May 2012. 6. Identify and collaboratively source for dedicated funds for initiatives in USR as this would help in sustainability. This could include developing plans for the setting up of a foundation. 7. Improve communication and outreach within and outside the institution, and also with the media to improve knowledge of activities conducted and to garner interest. The communication channels would also inform the public and other stakeholders on work being carried out; indicating accountability for funds discharged and possibly developing other avenues to generate future funds.
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8. Create a virtual platform, set up a dedicated website or portal which would serve as a databank to: a. Share innovations, experiences, and success stories. b. Highlight and promote community engaged experts across ASEAN and Asia (from universities, NGOs, government agencies and industry). c. Provide a guide for sample grants, proposals and sample projects. d. Compile data systematically of members and their interests. e. Provide information on scholarships and funding sources available.
Specific Considerations Specific areas were also addressed for action. These are in the spheres of Institutional Governance and Management, Capacity Development in the Scholarship of Community Engagement, Research, Community Engagement and Capacity Development, as well as Curriculum, Students and Capacity Development. While some of these suggestions are already in practice in some institutions, there is still a need for comprehensive actions.
Institutional Governance and Management The following actions have been proposed: 1. Leadership and management build-in the practice of USR&S and obtain buy-in from all stakeholders. For sustainability, university management such as Vice-Chancellors should make calls for recognition of USR&S, provide financial resources and incentives, and invest in gathering data to measure for impact. In short, USR&S should be incorporated in the main structure of universities and institutional policy be aligned with community or civic engagement. 2. Job advertisements for academics include the criterion for work in civic/community engagement so that all academics become aware that this is part of job their specifications. It would help that work in USR&S be integrated in performance appraisals formally.
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Capacity Development in the Scholarship of Community Engagement There is a need to develop the scholarship of engagement. The scholarship of engagement is a collaborative or participatory process which focuses on where the work is done as well as how it is done and more importantly how the evidence based research could be documented and written for publication in journals which are peer reviewed and books published by reputable publishers. This should be for an academic audience as well as include writing for the public. For the latter, it would be necessary to convert the knowledge into a form that members of public would be able to appreciate and understand. It is necessary for writing and documentation to be an integral part of the development of the field of community engagement for it to be taken seriously and regarded as a professional area. There is a need for workshops to help develop the scholarship of engagement and help academics ensure that their writings get accepted in internationally recognised indexed journals. This can be done by inviting editors of these journals to the workshop to help with capacity development. Understanding the USRS area and acquiring competencies essential for community engagement. Across the region, universities are at different stages of development on the USRS scale. Those in Indonesia and the Philippines are very advanced in terms of their contribution to communities and others may only just be starting on these initiatives. Thus, more capacity building programs are urgently needed to serve their different needs and to assist academics and other stakeholders to carry out community-based engagement which could enhance research and teaching and learning. This process would develop capacity and allow them to enhance their abilities to mobilize and use resources to achieve their objectives meaningfully, productively and with sustainability. We need to identify small projects for those institutions where USR&S is not yet developed and then monitor for progress. Smaller core groups could be set up to plan and carry out site visits to observe best practices to share with members for greater efficacy.
Research, Community Engagement and Capacity Development There are many areas that need to be researched and worked on and that could then be incorporated into capacity building workshops to create
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greater impact across members. The principles and know-how of social participatory research is essential. This involves applying institutional resources (for example., knowledge and expertise of students, faculty and staff, political position, buildings and land) to address and solve challenges facing communities through collaboration with these communities. Gelmon, et al. (2005) reiterate that community-engaged research includes the elements of: ...teaching, discovery, integration, application and engagement that involves the faculty member in a mutually beneficial partnership with the community and has the following characteristics: clear goals, adequate preparation, appropriate methods, significant results, effective presentation, reflective critique, rigor and peer-review.
To develop regional capacity in this area, it is recommended that we engage experts such as Dr. Rajesh Tandon to provide training on the implementation of successful social participatory research initiatives and knowledge-driven community engagement. Dr. Rajesh Tandon is the founder of the Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), a voluntary organization that provides support to grassroots initiatives in South Asia. In the last twenty-five years, he has conducted research, training and educational work on a wide variety of topics in order to strengthen the capacities and institutional mechanisms of voluntary development organizations in India and other developing countries. Dr. Tandon also holds the position of Co-Chair of the UNESCO Chair on CommunityBased Research and Social Responsibility of Higher Education. Through the Regional Conference on Higher Education-Community-Industry Engagement: Forging Meaningful Partnerships across ASEAN and Asia on 7th to 9th May 2012, it has been possible to invite Dr. Tandon to share his experience and expertise with academics and professionals in this region. It is also critical to develop criteria and indicators and SOPs for meaningful, productive and sustainable community engagement for research, education and service. These will feed into the development of audit reviews and quality assurance measures for the field of community engagement. Building on this, there is also a need to apply these criteria and identify components and develop mechanisms to evaluate social impact assessment of community engaged projects. This would demonstrate the return on investment for community-engaged initiatives and enable practitioners to justify proposals to secure funding for such initiatives from industry and corporate organisations. Academia need to collaboratively engage in focused as well as multidisciplinary areas of engagement such as medicine, education, economy
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and the environment, as this would enable universities to enlist the support and expertise of various stakeholders whilst increasing the outreach to communities.
Curriculum, Students and Capacity Development Youth are also expected to play a greater role in community or civic engagement. Higher education provides students with the opportunities to become community engaged and opportunities should be developed to build these into the curriculum and co-curriculum. As elaborated by Toni Murdock, President of the Antioch University Seattle in his Presidential Speech at the university graduation event in May 2004: We know from our experience that concentration on a concrete problem leads students to political engagement. We know that connecting studies with problem-solving service in the community deepens, complicates, and challenges students’ learning. It turns them into knowledge producers, not just knowledge consumers. They become citizen scholars who renew our democratic society.
Policies of higher education institutions need to be aligned with civic or community engagement and social responsibility. Where possible, curriculum must be community-oriented whilst still ensuring sound academic standards and relevance. New models of experiential education combined with service in the community will have to be promoted so that students gain valuable experience that supplements their standard academic curriculum and academics utilise their knowledge for society. At the forum, it was stressed that capacity building would also need to be developed in students to carry out community-based research projects. The following suggestions were put forward to develop civic thinking among students, some of which are already in practice in a number of institutions: 1. Conduct training programs for capacity building and work with NGOs in this regard. This would include preparing staff and students so that they act appropriately and are aware of risks. Developing capacity in entrepreneurship and social innovation should be encouraged in this regard as they would inculcate the right spirit and attitude. 2. Introduce credits for civic engagement/service learning in curriculum in all programs in all universities. This would also facilitate exchange programs especially for cross-cultural technology transfer which would aid in future employment.
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3. Provide community engaged assistants to help with the implementation of the integration of community engagement in the curriculum. 4. Award scholarships for students highly engaged in community work under supervision of staff (akin to sports scholarships). The scholarship would be given in recognition of community engaged work. 5. Involve students at forums on community engagement as this would expose them to the value of service learning and assist in the mission to create socially responsible students.
AUN Members’ Meeting At the AUN Members’ meeting on the 11th May 2011 chaired by AUN Deputy Executive Director Dr. Choltis Dhirathiti, it was unanimously proposed that UKM in collaboration with AUN, with the support of the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education, will act as a focal point to harness the expertise of national and regional higher education institutions and collaborate with diverse stakeholders to develop systems and initiatives which are underpinned by the following recommendations: 1. Governance Systems: Establishing institutional strategies, policies and processes that support and facilitate strategic engagement with all stakeholders. 2. Knowledge Exchange System: To develop an eco-system that encourages Engagement which involves a two-way flow of knowledge and experience between higher education and diverse stakeholders, driven by niche research areas, for example, climate change and the environment. 3. Develop the ‘scholarship of engagement’ which is a scholarly agenda that integrates community issues. This will involve carrying out of evidence-based research and publications. There is a need to do this for the area to be taken seriously in the academic environment and not to be regarded as a third stream peripheral activity. 4. Capacity Development System: There is a need for training in terms of certified short courses and postgraduate certification (Masters and PhDs) in the field of industry and community engagement or social responsibility. This will provide recognition and enable this discipline to be regarded more seriously and ultimately encourage young people to move into this area as they will receive recognition and qualifications. 5. Recognition and Reward Systems: Develop system and processes to ensure that the area of community engagement is visible in the promotional criteria and reward system within the university.
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6. Quality Engagement Systems: Develop standard operating procedures for quality engagement processes within the university and with external stakeholders, and clear indicators for successful multi-sectoral engagement. These will feed into review audits that will be carried out to assess the quality and social impact of community engaged projects at the institutional as well at the regional level. 7. Communities of Practice: Capture and extract tacit knowledge from the collection of best practices in USR&S from regional USR practitioners from academia and non-governmental organizations, to document the state of USRS in the ASEAN region and to then develop proposals in specific areas of expertise that can contribute to community development.
Conclusion: Role of Higher Education in Community Development Reaffirmed There is a growing global momentum around university-community engagement with networking playing an important factor (Watson et al. 2011). To augment the effectiveness and influence of their civic work, higher education institutions are working with various interest groups. This is also extended to collaborations with industry. Higher education could thus take the lead to ensure that all parties play their part, trust each other, and come together as a unit to strengthen communities as well as empower them as ultimately all form the fabric of society and are stitched together for a shared destiny. The presentations at the 2nd UKM-AUN Regional Forum on University Social Responsibility themed “Knowledge for People, Research for Community Life� reaffirmed that higher education has a vital role to play in developing communities and sustaining the environment. The forum was indeed timely in bringing together diverse stakeholders, and catalysing regional efforts in mobilizing universities, industry, communities, government agencies and non-government organizations to work collaboratively on programs to drive applied research and harness resources to address the social, economic and environmental challenges of the ASEAN communities, and beyond. UKM in tandem with the newly branded AsiaEngage and the ASEAN University Network Thematic Network on University Social Responsibility and Sustainability (AUN-USR&S) could act as a focal point to bridge ASEAN and other universities and networks in social responsibility
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and sustainability. A dedicated platform would encourage developing competencies in all the areas essential for becoming engaged leaders, engaged academics, engaged students, engaged administrative staff making up the ENGAGED UNIVERSITY.
References Gelmon, S.B., Seifer, S.D., Kauper-Brown, J. and Mikkelsen, M. 2005. Building Capacity for Community Engagement: Institutional Self-Assessment. Seattle: Community-Campus Partnerships for Health. Murdoch, T. 2004. Presidential Speech, Antioch University Seattle. Posted at http:// www.compact.org/resources/quotes-from-presidential-speeches-or-articles/1053/ Watson, David, Robert Hollister, Susan E. Stroud and Elizabeth Babcock. 2011. The Engaged University: International Perspectives on Civic Engagement. New York: Routledge.
Appendix
Asia Engage Taskforce Members Chair Professor Dr. Saran Kaur Gill Executive Director ATNEU & AUN USR&S and Deputy Vice Chancellor (Industry & Community Partnerships) Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia Members Dr. Nanthana Gajaseni (Executive Director) Asean University Network Associate Professor Dr. Nat Vorayos (Vice President for Res. & Acad Serv. Aff) Chiang Mai University, Thailand Dr. Pichan Sawangwong (Vice President for International Relations) Burapha University, Thailand Dr. J. Prospero E. De Vera III (Vice President for Public Affairs) University of Philippines, Phillipines Professor Er Meng Hwa (Vice President International Affairs) Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Dr. Hajjah Anita Aziz (Deputy Vice Chancellor, Global Affairs) Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Brunei Mr. Francesco Volpini (Director) Coordinating Committee for International Voluntary Service (CCIVS) Professor Dr. Sharifah Mastura Syed Abdullah (Director, Institute of Climate Change (IKP) Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia Mr. Mary Ann Manapat (Director, Office for Social Concern & Involvement) Ateneu De Manila University, Phillipines
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Associate Professor Albert Teo (Deputy Director, University Scholar’s Programme) National University of Singapore, Singapore Professor Dr. Khalijah Awang (Head, Centre for Community Network) University Malaya, Malaysia Professor Dr. Khalijah (Head, Centre for Community Network) University Malaya, Malaysia Dr. Bagos Aryo (Advisor to Directorate of Research & Community Services) Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia Dr. Philipp Danao (Consultant) Maltezer International Dr. Ir. Agus Prasetya (Senior Member) Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia
Associate Members Associate Professor Lok Tat Seng (Director of Student Affairs) Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Dr. Yabit Alas (Director of Continuing Education Centre) Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Brunei Darussalam Associate Professor Dr. Avorn Opatanakit (Assistant President for Research and Academic Service Affairs) Chiang Mai University, Thailand Dr. Agustino Zulys (Head of Sub Directorate for Community Services) Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia Dr. M Agung Bramantya (Institute for Research and Community Services) Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia Ms. Prabha Sundram (Manager, Office of Partnerships) Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Malaysia
University-Community
Contributors PROF. DR. P N AVADHANI is “Ambassador-At-Large” for the Malaysian Nature society and has been actively involved with the Malaysian Nature society for almost 50 years. He had joined the then Singapore branch of the Society and has held various positions including Vice-President of the main society and earlier over the years as Secretary, Treasurer, and Chairman of the branch. Holding a postgraduate degree in botany and doctorate in plant physiology and plant biochemistry, he has about 38 years of teaching and research experience, mostly at the National University of Singapore. Over the span of his academic career, he had attachments at several Botany departments in universities across the US, Europe, South America and Australia. E-mail: avadhani_nature@yahoo.com DR. BAGUS ARYO is currently Advisor to the Directorate of Research & Community Services, Universitas Indonesia. He is also Senior Lecturer at the Department of Social Welfare, Universitas Indonesia. Previously, he was head of the Sub-Directorate of Research & Industry Incubator, Directorate of Research & Community Services. Other positions held were head of Academic Laboratory, Department of Social Welfare (2004 – 2006), and executive manager of the Selo Soemardjan Research Centre (SSRC), Faculty of Social and Political Sciences from 2003 – 2005 at the same university. E-mail: b-aryo@ui.ac.id PROF. DR. ROBERT G. BRINGLE is Chancellor’s Professor of Psychology and Philanthropic Studies and Executive Director, IUPUI Center for Service and Learning at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. He has been involved in the development, implementation, and evaluation of educational programs and as a social psychologist widely known for his research on jealousy and close relationships. Awarded the Ehrlich Faculty Award for Service Learning, Bringle was also recognized at the International ServiceLearning Research Conference for his outstanding contributions. He was the Volunteer of the Year in 2001 for Boys and Girls Clubs of Indianapolis. The University of the Free State, South Africa, awarded him an honorary doctorate for his scholarly work on civic engagement and service learning. E-mail: rbringle@iupui.edu
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PROF. DR. MICHAEL H. GLANTZ is Director, Consortium for Capacity Building (CCB), University of Colorado. His most recent publication is Usable Thoughts on Climate, Water, and Weather in the 21st Century (UNU Press 2010). He served at various times as a researcher, ESIG Director and a senior scientist at NCAR over 34 years. His research portfolio includes the following issues: African drought; desertification and food production problems and prospects; societal impacts of climate anomalies related to El Niño and La Niña events; and the use of climate-related information for economic development. Involved in educating and training educators, trainers and university students in developing regions, Glantz has published extensively on climate impacts. E-mail: mickeyglantz@hotmail.com PROF. DATO’ DR. KAMARUZZAMAN SOPIAN is Professor in Renewable Energy at the Department of Mechanical and Material Engineering, at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) as well as Director of Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI), UKM. His work is internationally recognized with him winning over 50 medals and awards in national and international innovation and invention competitions. He is a founding member of the Malaysian Institute of Energy and member of the World Renewable Energy Network, based in the United Kingdom. Kamaruzzaman is an associate editor of the Renewable Energy published by Elsevier Ltd and is passionate about creating an environmentally friendly world. He is working on converting the complex solar panel processing system into a cottage industry to help the underprivileged. E-mail: ksopian@eng.ukm.my MS. JACQUI MARTIN is Executive Director, Marketing & Engagement, at La Trobe University, Australia. Her achievements include the award-winning redevelopment and implementation of the university’s brand as well as development of lead generation marketing programs. Prior to that, she held Marketing Director positions at the Canberra Institute of Technology and the University of Canberra. Holding a master’s in education degree, Jacqui developed the curriculum and implemented the distance education program when working previously with the Department of Education, Tasmania. This was followed up with project management roles for the Tasmanian State Government. E-mail: j.martin@latrobe.edu.au PROF. DATO’ DR. SARAN KAUR GILL is Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Industry and Community Partnerships) of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, responsible
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for developing mutually beneficial partnerships between the university, industry and community as they support the domains of education, research and service. She has been working at the university for more than 30 years in scholarly pursuits, human resource development and management of large projects. In 2004, Saran was appointed member of the UNESCO Scientific Committee for the Asia-Pacific Region for Higher Education, Research and Knowledge. In 2010, she received the inaugural award of “Education Personality of the Year” from the Australian High Commission in recognition of her efforts in developing Malaysian-Australian educational partnerships. Other awards received include Enhancing the Image of UKM excellence award in 1999 and a Fulbright award to research on language policy and managing identities at the University of Pennsylvania in 2006. Saran is presently leading the development of AsiaEngage, which is a brand name formed to maximise the strengths of the Asia-Talloires Network of Industry and Community Engaged Universities (ATNEU), the ASEAN University Network (AUN) Thematic Network on University Social Responsibility and Sustainability (AUN-USR&S) and the ASEAN Youth Volunteer Programme. All these networks/programme under AsiaEngage aim to create mutually beneficial partnerships between the Research, Education and Volunteerism missions of higher education with industry and community stakeholders across ASEAN and Asia. E-mail: tnchejim@ukm.my ASSOC. PROF. DR. P. SHANMUHASUNTHARAM is Assistant Honorary Secretary of MERCY Malaysia and lecturer at the department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, University of Malaya. He joined MERCY Malaysia as a volunteer in 2003 and was elected to his present position in 2006. Some of the international missions he was involved in include Sri Lanka (2009, 2005), North Korea (2008), and Syria (2006). He is a fellow dental surgeon of the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh, Scotland. E-mail: info@mercy.org.my MR. ROB VAN LEEUWEN is Project Officer, Asia-Europe Foundation in the People-to-People Exchange Department, primarily in charge of the nonformal activities of the Foundation. Previously, he participated in several international volunteer projects in South Africa and Indonesia and served as a trainer/coordinator in several non-formal education projects. He was also Project Manager for SIW International Volunteer Projects in the Netherlands. For his master’s degree in Southeast Asian Studies, van Leeuwen researched the 2004 tsunami’s influence on urban symbolism in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. E-mail: rob.vanleeuwen@asef.org
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MR. FRANCESCO VOLPINI is currently the Director of the Co-ordinating Committee of International Voluntary Service (CCIVS), an international NGO in association with UNESCO. Managing a network of more than 300 organisations in 98 countries CCIVS supports youth organisations and international institutions in developing projects in culture, education for sustainable development, conflict resolution, health, and poverty reduction. Previously, he worked as international coordinator and trainer in non-formal education and intercultural learning projects, bridging grassroots civil society organizations, companies, academic institutions and intergovernmental agencies in different countries. For his doctoral degree, Volpini researched gross national happiness in Bhutan and he has also contributed to curriculum development of the international master’s degree in industrial ecology at the Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources, Mahidol University. E-mail: secretariat@ccivs.org YATELA ZAINALABIDIN is Chief Executive Officer, Sime Darby Foundation, responsible for corporate social responsibility projects undertaken by the foundation. Her prior extensive experience in process control improvement and corporate governance in various industries within the global Sime Darby Group led her to being appointed to this position. Yatela is a certified chartered accountant by profession. E-mail: yatela.zainal@simedarby.com